The Pittsburgh Steelers made a bold move last spring to add Patrick Peterson to the cornerback position in place of Cameron Sutton. Sutton ultimately signed a three-year, 33 million contract with the Detroit Lions. The Steelers then decided to take a more calculated approach to their defense going into 2024, trading Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for Donte Jackson and a late-round pick.
Now at 28, Jackson isn’t particularly young, but he is very fast and has experience playing inside and out for a number of different Panthers defenses over the years. Factor in the return of Sutton and the emergence of Joey Porter Jr. as a potential star cornerback in the NFL, and the Steelers have an improved cornerback group in 2024, assuming everyone stays healthy and unsuspended for the full season.
But what happens if the Steelers experience some bad luck at the position, either through injury, regression, or Sutton being suspended for a portion of the season? If that happens, the Steelers look really light at one of the most important positions in the NFL in a division with some very scary receiving options.
Fortunately, there are a few cornerbacks on the open market who could help to fill out their depth chart heading into the fall, including one former Pro Bowler who is still a solid enough option on the outside.
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Stephon Gilmore is the perfect fill-in player.
Stephon Gilmore was one of the best cornerbacks available for hire after spending almost ten years bouncing around the AFC East, first with the Buffalo Bills and then with the New England Patriots from 2012 to 21. He first held down positions for the Panthers, then the Colts, and lastly the Cowboys, where he played 1,002 defensive snaps as Dallas’ CB2 between Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.
While the Cowboys didn’t bring back Gilmore in 2024, in part because of Bland’s emergence and because of his just okay play, for a team like the Steelers, who really don’t have a fourth cornerback they should feel totally comfortable using if someone suffers an injury, he could still be an interesting enough option and a position of value, even if he isn’t a guaranteed starter out of the gate.
Give him some time to get acclimated to the Steelers’ system, rotate him in with the team’s current top three, and who knows, maybe Gilmore will prove a valuable performer in 2024 should Pittsburgh need to call his number.
Omar Khan is uncertain about Cameron Sutton’s impending suspension.
Despite adding a number of new cornerbacks in free agency between draft weekend and free agency, the Steelers may be missing part of the season due to the arrest of Sutton in Florida for domestic abuse.
Omar Khan expressed doubts about Sutton’s ability to miss time, but he is sure the team will find a way to win even if he does. The Detroit Lions were quick to cut Sutton loose and search elsewhere in 2024 for help at the cornerback spot out of concern that they could be down a start at a crucial position.
“You know, we’ll see. We did meet with Cam, I think it was a couple weeks ago. It was more than just about the situation here, we just wanna see how he was doing. We spent six years with Cam, and they were a good six years with Cam. It was a good experience, and obviously, he had an opportunity to go to Detroit – had to make a business decision, but we’ll see,” Omar Khan told WDVE’s Morning Show via Fan Nation.
“I will say this, I do like the depth we have at the position. You know, there’s some young guys in there that are gonna compete and have a lot of traits to be really good nickel corners, and I really like that group. … We’ll see what the future holds.”
The Steelers have two intriguing candidates to take Sutton’s place as a basic cornerback if he does lose time: Ryan Watts, a sixth-round pick out of Texas who has amazing size but is probably not ready to play right away, and Donte Jackson. Nevertheless, it makes perfect sense to call someone like Gilmore if Sutton is suspended and has to miss a significant amount of time since he could play the higher-level role that Patrick Peterson’s admirers had hoped for.
