5 of the Steelers worst moves during the 2021 NFL offseason

Steelers cut Nelson

It isn’t often that a team cuts their starting cornerback who is in the prime of his career and on a deal below the market value for a starting cornerback, yet here we are. Despite the Steelers’ longstanding issues with drafting and developing cornerback talent, they opted to part ways with Steven Nelson seemingly due to salary cap reasons. There were so many better ways to avoid this being the scenario and now having the questionable cornerback depth that the team has heading into camp.

The simplest option would have been to retain him and potentially shave 3.1 million in cap savings from not signing either Wormley or Haeg. If the team needed more cap space, giving him an extension could have lowered his 2021 cap hit. The team could have also explored voidable years with either he or Joe Haden as well. If cutting someone was still the only answer, that player should have been Haden. He’s far older and there are some serious worries that his athleticism will fall off this season.

Cutting a player was still unnecessary though as the team could have found a way to keep everyone around for this season. Now, cornerback has once again become one of the team’s largest needs. While I am as high on James Pierre as anyone can be, throwing him into the starting role is extremely risky. Keeping Nelson around wouldn’t have been that difficult, so cutting him certainly looks like the wrong choice.