Steelers 2015 UFA Profiles: CB Brice McCain
By Kim Myers
This edition of the unrestricted free agent profiles sticks with the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary. Brice McCain was signed to a one-year contract last April. At the time the signing was looked at as ho-hum and not very impactful with the needs they had in the secondary and in spite of that McCain produced some big plays for the Steelers in 2014.
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McCain was drafted by the Houston Texans in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of Utah. He was released after five seasons with the Texans last March. McCain wore No. 25 for the Steelers and was lovingly referred to as “Not Ryan Clark” by some of us. Ok maybe just me.
McCain had what ESPN’s Scott Brown describes as a “season shaping play” in Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He picked off Jaguars QB Blake Bortles and ran it back 21 yards for a touchdown. The Steelers would go on to win 17-9. Brown describes that play as season shaping because it came in a game where the Steelers needed a win after losing embarrassingly at home the previous week to Tampa Bay and in the series before the pick, Ben Roethlisberger lost a fumble on the Jaguars’ 17-yard line after getting sacked.
McCain would then go on to have two more interceptions in the final regular season game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
With the Steelers likely to part ways with CB Ike Taylor and not likely to give up on Cortez Allen after signing him to an extension just before the start of the 2014 season they could definitely benefit from McCain’s services. Again Steeler Nation waits to see if they will address their secondary needs properly this offseason as they failed to do so last year. Re-signing McCain would be a low-risk and possible high-reward sign if he can play as aggressive as he did in 2014.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Do the Steelers re-sign Brice McCain (aka Not Ryan Clark)? Or do they start from scratch in the secondary?