3 cheap free agents Steelers must add before the 2022 draft

Steelers should sign Neal

A name that makes a lot of sense for the team, a former safety, turned linebacker, and now back to safety, Keanu Neal checks a lot of boxes off. He was a first-round pick for the Falcons a few seasons ago and the Steelers had pre-draft interest in Neal. Now a free agent again, the box safety would be a cheap option to start while a rookie developed.

Neal was once seen as an up-and-coming strong safety and a pioneer of the hybrid safety/linebacker role for a defense. Injuries derailed his last few years with the Falcons before he tried to completely transform himself into a linebacker. The results weren’t great, thus his decision to return to his more natural safety role is a logical one.

While there is some inherent risk in banking on Neal to be a starter, he should be cheap enough to warrant that risk. He may get more than the minimum, but it won’t be by much. It seems like the Steelers are out on most of the bigger safety names left on the market, but Neal could provide a realistic budget option for the team. There is little reason to believe that he can’t play similarly to how he did earlier in his career.