While plenty of discussion on the future of the Steelers' defense has been sparked by the signings of Jon Bostic and Morgan Burnett, they already have a young player who will play a key role in their increased sub package usage: Cameron Sutton.
One key to Keith Butler's defense will be how well the Steelers can cover in sub packages. For years, the team was lacking talent at cornerback, particularly when it came to covering opponents with spread offenses. But with the new group of corners, they're in a personnel position to solidify this, with Artie Burns, Sean Davis, Mike Hilton and yes, Sutton, too.
Sutton saw only 113 snaps in his rookie season, having started the season on injured reserve, so there were limited examples of his work against spread offenses. But below is an example of how Sutton played in backed-off coverage as a defensive back at Tennessee. This is often the role a cornerback plays in sub packages, like William Gay did for the Steelers in recent years. Sutton can play backed-off receivers in the slot and run intermediate zones while making well-timed attacks on the ball.
Watch how he interprets this receiver's route from Kentucky and beats him to the ball:
Part of what's needed in these situations is a defensive back comfortable enough to watch the eyes of the quarterback while also playing his zone coverage assignment and adjusting at the right moment. Sutton often found himself in the right place at the right time at Tennessee because he was able to take away his assignment and float into the right spot, based on how he read the progressions of the offense.
Watch how he sits in his zone coverage in the flat to take away the out route, but is able to make the perfect break on the deep corner route by Appalachian State for the interception:
That route combination of an underneath out with an overtop corner route is a smash combination, often used to force defenders in zone to make difficult decisions. Sutton proved to be one of those players who can be trusted to make those difficult decisions because he often stuck to his fundamentals and was able to make plays on the ball without vacating his role.
But as we all know, the Steelers do need to mix in effective man coverage to help confuse opposing offenses and have players adept at doing both zone and man. All it took was for a team to force Gay to cover a quicker receiver outside the numbers, and they had found their mismatch in 2017.
Sutton's strengths fit this problem perfectly as he's very good with his hands and knows how to run with a receiver and attack the ball. Watch how he breaks on this slant route and attacks from the rear shoulder to swipe the ball away:
OK, sure that's college, but next is an example of him using the same technique in the NFL during a preseason game. Notice how he's able to get in the receiver's hip pocket and run all the way to the sideline so that the quarterback has to make the perfect throw for him to not be able to touch the ball:
For the future of the team, Sutton represents a talent who could be moved all around and even be asked to cover big name players. The Steelers even did that with him during 2017 when Joe Haden went down and Coty Sensabaugh started to struggle against A.J. Green.
The Bengals saw the matchup and immediately tried to take advantage of Sutton against the superstar receiver at the bottom of the screen here. Notice how the deep curl route was used because Sutton has deep-thirds responsibility and they expect him to play it safe and just not give up the deep ball.
But Sutton isn't intimidated by Green and is in position the entire way. When Green makes his cut for the curl, the rookie is comfortable enough to turn his hips and challenge the ball:
As the Steelers plan the future of their defense, Sutton is a player who can fit in several spots and even someday be the starting cornerback outside the numbers should the team let go of Burns or Haden. But for now, he's a great depth player who has a high football IQ and will be hungry for any action that can be thrown his way.