Grading Steelers stellar rookies halfway through 2020 season

James Pierre

Grade: B+

This list will go in reverse order of when the player was drafted, which actually means an undrafted player is the first up. James Pierre entered camp as an unknown and underhyped college defensive back out of Florida Atlantic. All of the hype was on Trajan Bandy, the Mike Hilton like slot corner that was ultimately cut from the practice squad. Meanwhile, Pierre has gotten a helmet every game and has been a core special teamer.

As of now, he has logged four total tackles as a gunner during special teams. While simply being a special teamer may draw the ire of fans, he is an undrafted rookie that is making plays despite not having any sort of an offseason to work with. If this is his ceiling (and it very well could be), he will be a huge pickup for the Steelers. Finding any sort of a contributor that late is hard, and the Steelers should be commended for landing Pierre.

His midseason grade is high, and as long as his special teams play keeps up, it will remain high. That said, ideally, he can carve out a role on defense later on, but his early returns are already better than most would have guessed. It can’t be understated what kind of potential Pierre has. Rarely do Steelers UDFA’s make the roster initially, and when they do, they barely play and typically are bounced on and off the roster during the year. Pierre has proven to be a commodity and one that should continue to improve upon.