By the numbers: Defensive back is not the Steelers’ forte, but there is hope

The Steelers have had issues selecting defensive backs in the NFL Draft. What should they do this year?

I didn’t need to evaluate every player in rounds 2 through 5 of the NFL draft, from 2010 through 2018, for you to know the Steelers have had significant struggles identifying defensive backs that could contribute on Sundays. Most of us can reel off the names, though doing so might be painful. Crezdon Butler. Curtis Brown. Ryan Grant. Should I continue?

I hear you and I’ll stop. Nobody needs to wade too deeply into the carnage to get the point. When I first began to analyze the data, I knew I would find numerous busts for the Steelers at the positions of cornerback, free safety, strong safety, and the ambiguous catch-all positions that draft gurus like to use, “defensive back” (DB), and “position flexible safety” (SAF). What I did not know was how the black and gold would measure up to the rest of the league.

I expected that all teams would struggle with evaluating a position like cornerback. A player must have athletic tools that most of us only experience with a video game controller in hand. They must have a football acumen that enables them to analyze game tape, translate what they see into reality, and then make quick decisions within the particular defense called by the D-coordinator before the quarterback receives the snap. Oh, and then there is the intangible part of the position.

They must have the confidence of a high caliber salesperson and the kind of short memory you see only in elite athletes and 10-year-olds who just landed on their face after trying a 720 at the local skate park only to be back at it 2 minutes later. I might have kids and might know something about the last one.

I’m sure many of you recall a moment of your athletic careers, be it high school, college, or that small percentage of professional athletes who learned somewhere along the way that dwelling on failure is a path directly to the bench.