4 dark horse Steelers candidates to take over Mark Barron’s role in 2020
By Tommy Jaggi
Jordan Dangerfield
Here’s a player that nobody is really talking about, but could have a bigger role than you envision him having in 2019. Though Jordan Dangerfield has been a reserve safety for the Steelers since 2014, he’s not lacking in experience or physicality.
If you recall, just two years ago, Morgan Burnett played a hybrid version of this role in 2018 – logging 37 percent of defensive snaps as the dime backer. Though Dangerfield has never seen more than 12 percent of defensive snaps in a single season, he’s most comfortable playing in the box.
Like Dangerfield, Barron and Burnett were both safeties in the NFL before switching to hybrid linebacker roles later in their careers. While Dangerfield never had near the game experience as the aforementioned players, his time spent in the system could be enough for the Steelers to give him the early nod as the team’s dime backer this season.
At 29 years old and with just 3 NFL starts since joining the team in 2014, Dangerfield certainly isn’t a long-term solution as the sub-package linebacker, but he’s a dark horse candidate to take over for Mark Barron this year.