When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded standout safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins to acquire Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith, it created some room at safety on the depth chart. Particularly for some guys fighting for a roster spot.
Like undrafted free agent Sebastian Castro.
While the loss of Fitzpatrick created a likely starting role for veteran Juan Thornhill, it also opened the door further for Castro to have an opportunity to earn a role.
The former Iowa standout doesn’t have his eyes on defense, though. Instead, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko that he is singularly focused on special teams under coordinator Danny Smith.
“The defense? I gotta get on special teams first,” Castro said to Batko regarding the opportunity in front of him. “That’s where I’m gonna earn my spot, really.”
Spoken like a guy who can see the forest for the trees when it comes to his NFL future.
After going undrafted and signing with the Steelers, there was a lot of buzz surrounding Castro, who was a standout in the Big Ten. During his time in Iowa City, Castro wore a number of hats in the Hawkeyes’ defense, playing deep safety, box safety and even handling some slot duties as well.
That helped him rack up 163 career tackles, 14 tackles for loss, two sacks, four interceptions, one touchdown, 14 passes defensed and five forced fumbles in 53 career games. Though poor testing numbers at the Combine dinged his stock and he went undrafted, his signing was praised as a strong UDFA move by the Steelers due to his football IQ and versatility.
Now, he needs to prove it in training camp.
That will start on special teams. He’ll have to scratch and claw for opportunities, but when he gets them under Smith, he needs to make the most of them. There’s a history of undrafted free agents making the Steelers over the years. He can ask Beanie Bishop Jr. about his path from one year ago.
Other examples include Jaylen Warren, and even James Pierre in the secondary. But Castro is focused on one thing: playing football.
“I’m not even trying to worry about that or think about that too much,” Castro said of the UDFA path, according to Batko. “I’m just glad I’m playing football right now.”
Don’t think, just do.
We’ll see how that works out for Castro this summer in Latrobe. He’s a player worth watching in the secondary throughout practices and in the preseason to see if he can earn a roster spot. The odds have improved slightly for him in recent weeks.
