Sean Davis and Morgan Burnett are currently the two starting safeties on the Steelers' roster. Both are strong safeties in style and experience, but that could be a big part of the future of this team's defense.
Having a mix of players who can rotate between deep and underneath coverage, as well as run support, could be a huge part of Keith Butler's plan. Which is why when Dale Lolley had the Steelers select Alabama's Ronnie Harrison in his first mock draft, it made sense that the Steelers could further boost their depth in that kind of player.
We take a look at the hard-hitting Alabama strong safety:
Harrison is one of the biggest safeties in his draft class as he was measured as 6-foot-2, 207 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine. He didn't do much at the combine, only participating in the vertical jump (34.0 inches) and the broad jump (120.0 inches), because of a hamstring injury. That injury also kept him from participating in any of the events at Alabama's pro day.
Harrison's size makes him one of the stronger safeties against the run in this draft. He has solid stopping power when he approaches ballcarriers and is quick to accelerate into the box from more than 10 yards off the ball.
Against Arkansas, he showed that when he came up from his deep coverage and made a tackle at the line of scrimmage to limit the running back to a gain of only two yards. Harrison can get aggressive very quickly and that helped him become a huge part of Alabama's defense:
Harrison fearlessly attacks downhill and uses his size to take down ballcarriers. But while that was a strength for him in college and he does use good leverage by lowering his pad level, he does not consistently attempt to wrap up ballcarriers upon impact.
Often he will break down into his defensive stance before delivering a big hit, but when he does so, he relies solely on the stopping power of his shoulder and doesn't follow through by wrapping up an opponent, as you can see here:
While that might work in some instances in the NFL, competition will be larger and stronger than many of the players Harrison took down while earning a good reputation at Alabama. He will need to improve upon that when making the transition to the NFL, but with his size and athleticism, that might not be too difficult a task.
Where Harrison will excel is in his help in underneath coverage. His size and quickness make him a great option to cover tight ends and slot receivers. He also possesses solid instincts that often put him in the right position to defend against passes to his assigned man/zone. Watch how he plays against a tight end on a zig route in the red zone:
Harrison ran with his man to take away the outside, but on the tight end's cut to the inside, he smoothly stopped and turned his hips to attack the receiver's back shoulder and swat the ball away, preventing the touchdown and ending the half.
Harrison is adept at route recognition and how to react when watching them. This asset makes him dangerous against underneath patterns he can undercut.
In this clip against LSU, Harrison never looks at the quarterback while covering this out route until he's already broken on the ball. His timing and natural ball skills make for key traits not easy to teach:
With his size and quickness, Harrison could provide a great option for Butler to call on to stop larger tight ends and help cover the trickier slot receivers who can be shifty in their shorter, but sharper, underneath routes. Davis and Burnett both look good at this as well, but Harrison's size could make him the enforcer of the group who not only helps in coverage, but provides the big hits that pressure receivers in tight spaces.
While Harrison is not a player who normally played in deep coverage for Alabama, he did flash the potential to be that kind of player when it was his assignment. He often looked comfortable switching not only directions, but active roles in how he covered underneath and then switched to help take away deeper routes.
Watch him from the red circle here, as he drops back smoothly to the middle of the field and flies to the ball to swat away a deep pass after starting in the slot from the other side of the field:
It is difficult for defenders to operate in the middle of the field and protect different levels while also accounting for multiple receiving threats, but Harrison made it look routine at Alabama. Add that factor to his size and you have a player graded to the first or second round.
If the Steelers do add Harrison, they'll get a stronger safety who could be an immediate contributor against the run and see significant time in the defense's sub packages. While he doesn't possess the straight line speed of a true deep ballhawking safety, he would add to the mix of safeties who can fill both roles of free and strong.