4 bold predictions for the Steelers preseason game vs Lions

Steelers secondary gets creative

As stated earlier, one of the biggest winners of Steelers camp was Pierre, as the former undrafted free agent has been arguably the best performer in the secondary not named Minkah Fitzpatrick. He has earned some playing time in some sort of regard, and we should see what those intentions are in this game. The base-level expectation should be that during dime defense, Cameron Sutton resumes his role as the sixth defensive back and Pierre takes his spot on the outside.

While the team was favoring Antoine Brooks or Arthur Maulet in the slot, Pierre has been impressive enough to make Sutton being the starting slot cornerback a possibility. This was predicted earlier in camp, but the Steelers’ focus on one of the previously mentioned names being the slot corner seemed to make that possibility unlikely. Now though, with Pierre being better than advertised, he could realistically be playing 70 percent of the defense as an outside corner.

While the entire starting defense won’t be out for long against the Lions, it will be telling how they use their defensive backs. If Pierre sees time on the outside with Sutton going into the slot, the expectation should be for that to be the plan in the regular season. Likewise, if the team opts for having the slot cornerback stay in the slot all year, that should be seen when the team fields a nickel and dime defense. I expect the former though, as Pierre has earned to start as often as he can on this defense.

The Steelers will have their warmup game this week against the Lions, and out of all of the preseason games, this one is the most important to watch. This will be the first time the prospective starting defense and offense see the field together. Things won’t be perfect but keep an eye on how the starters play now that they are essentially playing with who they will be at the start of the season.