The Pittsburgh Steelers added a number of new faces with a great deal of experience to the secondary, particularly at cornerback, this offseason. Veterans Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey and Brandin Echols joined the fold, shoring up the depth chart in a major way.
Through the first four weeks of the season, that depth has been tested.Â
Joey Porter Jr. has missed time with a hamstring injury, and Cory Trice Jr. opened the season on Injured Reserve due to a hamstring injury.
Now, with Porter set to return to action in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers might be without the services of Ramsey, who suffered a hamstring injury in Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings. Though Tomlin left the door open for Ramsey to play Sunday, it seems like one step forward, two steps back from an injury standpoint for the Steelers at cornerback.
But head coach Mike Tomlin, who spoke to the media Tuesday, stated that the depth the Steelers have at corner has him feeling confident in the division of labor.
“I mentioned early in team development that I liked our depth, particularly at the cornerback position. Well, certainly that depth has been tested,” Tomlin said of the cornerback depth, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “I talked a lot about BE [Brandin Echols] excited we are to have him. He’s done a nice job. James Pierre has done a nice job in playing more as well. It’s good to have veteran backups, man, guys that have played in the National Football League and started some. And certainly those things have been tested, and to have a full complement of players is not something that I view as a problem.
“We’ll go through the week, we’ll keep pushing in terms of evaluating people’s availability and levels of conditioning, and then we’ll kind of divide the labor up, appropriately so, based on that information at the end of the week.”
Though the Steelers won’t be tested as much through the air against the Browns as they were in Week 4 against the Vikings with the likes of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Adam Thielen, the Browns have some decent playmakers at receiver, like Jerry Jeudy and rookie Isaiah Bond.
There’s also the tight end matchup problems, too, with David Njoku and rookie Harold Fannin Jr.
But the Steelers feel good — as they should — about the depth and the talent they have in their secondary. It’s not just at cornerback, either. At safety the depth chart looks very solid on paper with DeShon Elliott, Juan Thornhill, Chuck Clark and Jabrill Peppers all bringing a ton of starting experience.
That depth helped the Steelers get by without Elliott for two games, and now that depth at cornerback will have to help pick up the slack without Ramsey, should he not be able to go against the Browns.
