Could Steelers CB Steven Nelson make the leap to stardom in 2020?

The Pittsburgh Steelers found a very good defensive back in Steven Nelson. Could he become another star an already star-studded defense?

During the 2019 offseason, I had a wishlist of reasonable players I wanted the Steelers to nab in free agency. Steven Nelson was one of them. Even during his time in Kansas City, there were plenty of reasons to believe that he was going to be a very good cornerback.

Though he was often disrespected by Chiefs fans, it wasn’t hard to point out the good in his game. Yes, Nelson was the most targeted defensive player in the league in 2018 with Kansas City, according to Pro Football Reference. But it’s important to remember the context.

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense was ranked first in the league in 2018 and would often get early leads on their opponents. This led to teams almost always playing catchup and were forced to sling the ball often. As a result, Nelson was targeted 115 times.

But despite being the most targeted cornerback in football in 2018, the then 25-year old corner still allowed just 51.3 percent of passes to be completed in his direction for a 72.6 passer rating. In addition, he pitched in 4 interceptions and 15 pass defenses.

Last year for the Steelers, Nelson took another leap forward. Though he earned just one interception, he allowed only 37 completions on 74 targets while surrendering a quarterback rating of just 65.8 on the season. This led to me writing an article on why Nelson was the most underrated player on the team last year.

From an efficiency standpoint, Nelson was terrific, here’s how he compared to other top NFL corners last year, according to The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly:

While Nelson didn’t get nearly the amount of interceptions that All-Pro cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Tre’Davious White earned last season, he actually allowed far fewer yards and receptions on more defensive snaps. Nelson was also one of the only starting NFL cornerbacks to not allow a touchdown pass on his watch in 2019.

Could the Steelers cornerback make the leap to stardom?

This begs the question: Is Steven Nelson ready to make a leap to become a star defender in the NFL? There are essentially just two things that need to occur for this to happen.

First, while Nelson’s efficiency numbers were through the roof, he will need to repeat his dominant performance from 2019. Not allowing a touchdown is certainly something that shouldn’t go unnoticed, and allowing just 37 receptions on 1,010 snaps last year is thoroughly impressive. Posting similar numbers could be convincing that it wasn’t just a fluke.

Second, in order to be considered among the ‘star’ cornerbacks in the league, Nelson will need to take the ball away more often. Though the Steelers defense took the ball away 38 times last sesaon, Nelson was involved in just two of those (an interception and a fumble recovery).

If the gritty corner can earn 3-5 interceptions next year while maintaining his high level of efficiency, he could be the next Steelers defender to enter the ‘stardom’ category on an already star-studded group. If that happens, look out, NFL.