Steelers Secondary: A Reason for Hope?
The Steelers secondary was not good last year. The pass-defense ranked third worst in the NFL in yards allowed with 271.9 yards per game; Pittsburgh was only one of two teams in the playoffs that ranked below twenty in that category. Ross Cockrell admits, “we gave up a lot of yards last year.”
But with all of the incoming talent in the secondary, there is a reason for hope.
The Steelers likely starting five include William Gay, Ross Cockrell, Senquez Golson, Doran Grant, and Artie Burns. There are two other players currently on Steelers roster during OTA’s (Donald Washington and Al-Hajj Shabazz), but the chances of them carrying more than five corners is unlikely. Of the likely starting five, William Gay and Ross Cockrell are the only players that have any real playing time.
Gay has been a solid, but generally unspectacular corner during his eight years with the Steelers. This season he will be asked to be the veteran leader of this inexperienced group. The next most experienced corner on the roster is Ross Cockrell, but he wasn’t even on the team until Pittsburgh picked him up early last year from the Bills. He has the skills to succeed in the NFL, but he hasn’t had time to prove himself as a reliable starter. That being said, he did well in in his first year with the Steelers. Cockrell played 62% of the defensive snaps and recorded 44 tackles, 11 passes defended, two interceptions, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. Hopefully, he will continue to get better and improve his game now that he will be receiving a majority of defensive snaps.
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Senquez Golson and Doran Grant were picked in the second and fourth round, respectively, of the 2015 draft. Golson injured his shoulder and did not get to play all year; Grant played in three games and did not record any stats. Both of these players have a legitimate shot to start due in part to their talent that got them picked relatively high in the draft, and the lack of other players to beat out for the job.
Of the two second year corners, Golson has the best chance to make an immediate impact. He has most of the skills that are required from NFL corners, apart from one big thing…his height. The Steelers would do well to pencil Golson in as the starting slot corner. There, he could lock down smaller receivers such as Julian Edelman and Steve Smith.
Artie Burns is probably the most talented corner on the team, but the chances of him being able to make an immediate impact may be slim during his rookie year, because of the complexity of the Steelers defense. The defensive scheme has been simplified in the last few years, but it is still one of the NFL’s hardest to learn. Most likely, Burns will start out on special teams and play in the dime and quarter packages. Depending on how quickly Burns picks up the system he could move up the depth chart to push Cockrell for the starting job as the outside corner. But just as likely is the possibility that Burns doesn’t adapt as well as possible and could remain buried on the depth chart until next year.
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