Steelers are going about the nickel cornerback situation the wrong way

The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking for a nickel cornerback after the loss of Mike Hilton this offseason, but here’s why they are going about it the wrong way. 

Over the past two seasons, the Steelers have had a pretty impressive situation at cornerback – perhaps one of the best I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. After going through stretches of sub-par to downright bad cornerback performances, Pittsburgh was finally four-deep at one of the most important positions in football.

In 2019 and 2020, the Steelers had an impressive group of cornerbacks in Joe Haden, Steven Nelson, Mike Hilton, and Cameron Sutton. Unfortunately, half of this group has been dismantled as Hilton and Nelson have joined new teams via free agency.

Hilton’s presence will be particularly missed by this team, as the Steelers coveted his ability to play the slot and defend the run. With Haden and Sutton set to be their outside cornerback, Pittsburgh is suddenly in need of a good slot option.

Sadly, I think the team is going about the nickel cornerback situation the wrong way. The Steelers recently released their initial training camp depth chart, and Antoine Brooks Jr. and Arthur Maulet are listed as the team’s only two nickel cornerback options.

Steelers are making a mistake at nickel cornerback

This, to me, is their first mistake. Antoine Brooks is the first in line to fill the position for Pittsburgh this year, and that makes me really nervous. Though Brooks was a respectable player as a strong safety for Maryland during his college years, he was touted for his physicality – not his movement skills.

Entering the NFL last season, Brooks was 5’11” and 220 pounds, according to Mockdraftable.com. Many expected him to take on the Jordan Dangerfield role as a reserve strong safety and box defender who is primarily a special teams player. However, it looks he could be thrust into action in a position he simply isn’t suited for.

Brooks is physical. There’s no doubt about that. From the nickel position, he could help this team coming downhill, blitzing off the edge, or stopping the run. However, he could be picked on often in pass coverage, as he simply doesn’t have the terrific quickness and change of direction skills required to play slot cornerback.

We saw this same scenario play out with Sean Davis early in his NFL career. Despite his natural fit being at free safety, Davis was pigeonholed into playing nickel cornerback as a rookie – a position he really struggled with. In addition, Davis was a significantly better athlete and NFL prospect than Antoine Brooks (ironically enough, both coming from the same school).

If Brooks doesn’t work out, then Arther Maulet is the first player listed behind him in the depth chart at nickel cornerback. Though Maulet does offer some starting experience (12 starts since 2017), he’s on the older side at age 28 and his most recent play with the Jets came at strong safety. Even the Steelers have him listed as a safety on the team’s official website.

Personally, I believe that the Steelers would be better off going with a lineup that is going to be better against the pass – even if they are giving up a bit of physicality in the middle. The biggest issue with Keith Butler’s defense is that it works against bad teams in the regular season, but they get picked on by great quarterbacks.

Deploying a lineup that has Cameron Sutton in the slot with James Pierre or Justin Layne on the outside could prove to be much better for coverage purposes. If the Brooks experiment doesn’t work, this is something the team must consider.