Moncrief, Nelson embrace Steelers, challenges ahead taken at Rooney Complex (Steelers)

Donte Moncrief, Thursday at Rooney Complex. - HUNTER HOMISTEK / DKPS

The Steelers have lost some key players in the past week, including Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell.

Thursday, they introduced their two biggest free agent acquisitions, cornerback Steven Nelson and receiver Donte Moncrief, who will try to help this team improve from the 9-6-1 it stumbled to in 2018, as the Steelers move on from the "Killer Bs."

In doing so, they acquired a couple of players they missed out on in the 2014 and 2015 drafts.

Just don't try to tell Moncrief, who signed a two-year deal worth approximately $10 million, he's now the replacement for Brown.

"I just say Donte is going to be Donte," Moncrief said when I asked him what he would say to those people. "AB, like anybody knows, is one of the best or is the best to ever play this game. You can't try to be what he was. You can only be what you are. I'm going to play the role I can play, make the plays I can make and do whatever makes this team better."

At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, Moncrief brings a physical presence to the Steelers' receiver room, one quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has craved for a number of years. The Steelers briefly had a big, speedy receiver in Martavis Bryant, who was selected 28 picks after the Colts took Moncrief in the third round of the 2014 NFL draft, but Bryant's off-field issues have pushed him out of the league.

Roethlisberger already reached out to Moncrief, who agreed to terms late Wednesday evening with the Steelers, telling the 25-year-old receiver they'll get together soon to start working on their chemistry. Moncrief, who has played with a number of different quarterbacks in his time in Indianapolis and then Jacksonville last year, welcomes the stability at the position.

"I'm looking forward to playing with Ben," said Moncrief, who played collegiately at Mississippi. "He's a Hall-of-Fame-guy. I'm looking forward to playing a lot of years with him and catch a lot of balls. I've got a few guys that I know here, that have played here for a number of years. And seeing the fans, having played here. And playing with Ben, it's always been a dream to play with a guy like that. The Steelers, that's my dad's favorite team. I was ready to come play for them."

The same could be said of Nelson. One of those players Moncrief knew who was in Pittsburgh was Senquez Golson, who the Steelers passed on Nelson to select in the second round of the 2015 draft. Nelson went to Kansas City in the third round and the Steelers then selected Doran Grant in the fourth.

The Steelers had shown an interest in Nelson, like they had Moncrief when he was eligible to be drafted, but missed out on him.

It worked out OK for Nelson. Golson and Grant are out of the league, while Nelson signed a three-year, $25.5-million contract with the Steelers.

Nelson's handle on Twitter is @Nelson_Island.

Playing cornerback in the Chiefs' defense — which primarily asks its cornerbacks to match up man-to-man — that was certainly what was asked of Nelson in that scheme.

Now, Nelson joins a team that is the exact opposite in many ways. While the Chiefs have traditionally been at the top of the league in terms of percentage of man-to-man defense every year, the Steelers lean more heavily to zone defenses.

The 26-year-old Nelson welcomes the change.

"That's amazing because I can do a lot of different things," Nelson said of moving into a different scheme. "That allows me to show how versatile I am."

Nelson has played in 52 career games, including 38 starts. Last season, he recorded 68 tackles, four interceptions and 15 pass breakups for a team that reached the AFC Championship game. He was targeted the most of any cornerback in the NFL. But that was because he played in every game for the Chiefs, who also were ahead by big margins in nearly every game.

The really important numbers on Nelson are that he allowed just a 55.6 percent completion rate on passes thrown his way and a passer rating of 79.1. Both numbers were 15th in the league per PlayerProfiler.com.

In his first three seasons with the Chiefs, Nelson (5-11, 194 pounds) played both the slot and outside cornerback spots. He said the Steelers made it apparent to him he'll be playing only on the outside opposite Joe Haden.

"Being on the outside, you're going to get more targets, the ball is going to be coming and you're going to have more opportunities," Nelson said. "When you're a playmaker and you've got a knack for the ball, you've got an opportunity to make more plays on the ball."

They also talked about more interceptions. Nelson's four interceptions last season were half as many as the Steelers' entire defense.

Improving upon that has been the Steelers' main focus heading into their offseason, as they try to rebound from missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

"I've heard it," Nelson said. "I actually didn't know that. I know this year will be different. We're going to do some great things with our team. Everybody is going to change that around this year."

He's also not concerned about all of the "drama" that has circulated in recent years about the Steelers:

Nelson will earn a salary of $1.5 million this season with a salary cap hit of just $4 million. His cap hits jump to $10.75 million in years two and three of his deal.

LOLLEY'S VIEW

The Steelers added a pair of quality players at a relatively cheap price.

With Nelson, the Steelers have an out after just one year. Because of a $3 million roster bonus due to Nelson at the start of the league year in 2020, the Steelers can get out of this deal for just $9 million after one season.

So if Nelson doesn't work out, they would have just $5 million of dead money for Nelson if he's not on the roster in 2020. Essentially, this is really a one-year deal with the Steelers having options to pick up the following two seasons.

Coming from a team that played almost exclusively man-to-man in Kansas City to one that plays more zone -- but does mix in man -- should be a boon for Nelson. He's got good ball skills, as his eight interceptions in just two seasons of playing at Oregon State would attest.

He's a big upgrade over Coty Sensabaugh and takes away the need for the Steelers to take a cornerback early in the draft, unless that happens to be where the value is when they pick.

Nelson's ability to play man also gives the Steelers more of an option to do that if they so choose.

With Moncrief, it was all about his ability to stretch the field. Though he said the Steelers want him to learn all of their receiver positions -- they do with everyone -- he'll primarily line up outside and give the Steelers the ability to keep JuJu Smith-Schuster in the slot when they so choose.

He's also a nice replacement for Bryant, who caught 17 touchdown passes in 36 games as a member of the Steelers. In 69 career games, Moncrief has 21 touchdown catches. That doesn't seem like many until you consider he spent little time working with Andrew Luck in Indianapolis. Because of Luck's multiple injuries, he instead wound up playing with the likes of Matt Hasselbeck, Charlie Whitehurst, Josh Freeman, Scott Tolzien and Jacoby Brissett. Then, last year in Jacksonville, it was Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler.

In his second year, primarily with Luck at QB, Moncrief caught seven touchdown passes in just nine games.

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