Steelers vs. Eagles: 4 players Pittsburgh fans must have their eye on
By Tommy Jaggi
CB James Pierre
At this point, James Pierre is firmly in the driver’s seat ahead of Justin Layne on Pittsburgh’s depth chart, but in order to earn more playing time, he will have to continue to prove himself in preseason action.
Pittsburgh’s base 3-4 defense consists of just two cornerbacks. These will obviously be Joe Haden and Cameron Sutton. However, their nickel defense is run even more often, and there is a chance for another defensive back to carve out a big role with both Mike Hilton and Steven Nelson gone this year.
Right now, Antoine Brooks is listed as the team’s starting nickel defensive back, but this isn’t set in stone. Another option the team could explore would be to kick Sutton into slot-coverage duties while in nickel and have James Pierre play right cornerback.
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In his first preseason contest last week, Pierre was one of my players of the game. Though he did give up a deep post while filling in for Joe Haden (who had the night off), Pierre recovered with an excellent game the rest of the way. Let’s see if he can build on that performance this week.