The Steelers have a long history of passing things down from one generation of player to the next.
That's why it's not all that surprising that they chose to re-sign cornerback Cam Sutton this year. You can trace Sutton's lineage with the team straight back to another heady mid-round cornerback that spent 10 years with the team, Deshea Townsend.
As much talk as there is about 40 times and vertical jumps at this time of year, one thing that can't be necessarily measured is what a player has above the neck.
The Steelers have long valued smart defensive backs. And Sutton is the latest in the line of mid-round cornerbacks the team has selected over the past 20 years who have turned into valuable long-time starters.
It started with Townsend in 1998, carried on with the selection of William Gay in 2007 and the pick of Sutton in 2017. Townsend and Sutton were third-round picks, while Gay was a fifth.
They weren't the biggest corners in their draft class. They weren't the fastest. But they were versatile talented and, most of all, smart.
Both Townsend and Gay had 10-plus-year careers, spending most of them with the Steelers. Sutton, re-signed by the Steelers to a two-year deal this offseason, would like to have a similar career path, whose career intersected with Gay's final year with the team, just as the start of Gay's career coincided with the end of that of Townsend.
“I learned so much from him,” Sutton said of Gay. “I didn’t get the opportunity to stay on the field as much as I wanted to with him, but watching how he moved, how he carried himself in the building and out of the building. That was uplifting to see that on a daily basis and be around that older kind of guy.”
He’s already on a similar career path. Both Townsend and Gay began their careers with the Steelers as nickel corners before eventually becoming starters on the outside. Along the way, they gave themselves additional value by learning not only how to play all the cornerback spots, but lining up at safety, as well.
They knew the entire defense and were players the coaching staff counted on to make sure everyone was aligned in the right spots. Not surprisingly, both got into coaching when their playing careers ended. Townsend has worked for several different teams and is currently the defensive backs coach for the Bears, while Gay, who just retired in 2018, was defensive backs coach at Missouri State last year before leaving to spend time with his son.
The intelligence factor that allows those players to move all over the defense is something his teammates and the coaching staff appreciate.
Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has an idea of what it takes to move around in a defense like Sutton has done. He did similar things in his rookie season with the Dolphins before being traded to the Steelers.
“It’s definitely tough, especially when you’re going inside to outside,” Fitzpatrick said. “A lot of guys like Cam, his job has been to cover the guy inside on third downs. Now, in the middle of a game, you transition to outside, your film study, you were looking at the outside guys, but you were looking more at the inside guys and their tendencies. He’s a great player and can cover really well. He has showed that.”
It’s the same way that Townsend and Gay’s coaches and teammates used to speak about them.
Now, at 26, Sutton, who is the senior defensive back with the Steelers on their roster – Joe Haden joined the team at the end of training camp Sutton’s rookie year – can be that mentor Gay was to him and Townsend was to Gay.
It all gets passed down.
“I really appreciated that from him,” Sutton said of Gay. “All the talks, whether they were small or big, the finer points you could take from things that change your life forever. That’s what he was able to be for me.”
MORE STEELERS
• There seems to be a big push -- at least by fans and some media -- for the Steelers to get linebacker T.J. Watt signed to a new deal before the start of this season. The Steelers could do it and will probably give it a shot. They currently have $12 million in available salary cap space. And getting Watt signed to a long-term deal would take one of the big items off next year's to-do list. But Watt also is likely to want a contract that would place him at least among the top five defensive players in the league. After this year's wave of free agency -- which was limited for defensive stars -- the top five defensive players' salaries are on average per year the Chargers' Joey Bosa ($27 million), Browns Myles Garrett ($25 million), Bears' Khalil Mack ($23.5 million), Rams' Aaron Donald ($22.5 million) and Giants' Leonard Williams ($21 million). Of those, Williams was the only player to get new money this year, signing a three-year, $63 million deal. As I laid out previously, the Steelers could get Watt signed this offseason to a deal that would get him into that $25 million-range without killing their cap this year or even dramatically increasing his $10.089 million cap hit this year. But they'll need to put a lot of guarantees and roster bonuses in there. And they haven't done that much with non-quarterbacks. But Watt is the kind of special player for which you break, or at least bend, the rules. -- Lolley
• No, the Steelers weren't in the running for Sam Darnold, who was traded to the Panthers from the Jets this week for second-, fourth- and sixth-round draft picks over the next two drafts. I'm told they weren't interested. The Panthers also will have to pick up the fifth-year option for Darnold, the third pick in the 2018 draft. That will lock them in to paying Darnold $24 million over the next two seasons. But any time a quarterback such as Darnold becomes available, the immediate reaction from some is to say the Steelers should go get him. Why would they trade three draft picks, even if two of them aren't premium picks, for a player who in 38 career games has 45 touchdown passes and 39 interceptions, not to mention 20 fumbles? The past two years, we've seen quarterbacks move around more than ever before. Why give up picks for Darnold this year when, if they want to go the veteran route for a quarterback, they can just wait until next season and do so? Or, they can simply draft one. Get who you want, not somebody else's scraps. -- Lolley
PENGUINS
• Ron Hextall seems like a pragmatic guy, so it stands to reason that he's prepared to lose a pretty good player to Seattle in the expansion draft this summer. It's impossible to predict who that will be, if only because Kraken GM Ron Francis won't finalize his draft list until he sees exactly who the 30 clubs that will supply players to stock his franchise opt to leave unprotected. And while no front-office executive likes to lose a capable player for no return (outside of a share of Seattle's expansion fee), Hextall said that won't necessarily be as damaging as it might appear at first blush. And, interestingly, that it could have an impact on moves he makes before the NHL trade deadline Monday at 3 p.m. "(The draft) will be an opportunity, too, because if you lose a good player, depending on the (salary-cap) space, it opens up space, so hopefully, we'll be able to find a replacement (via trade or free agency)," he said. "Or maybe from within. We'll see how it works out. There are two ways to look at it. Hypothetically, if we acquired a forward (before the trade deadline), that's one more guy we're going to have next year, whether we lost that guy or one of the guys currently on our team. So you do add to your depth next year if you add a guy, even if you can't protect him. ... It might save somebody that you have on your team, so you have to bring that into the equation, as well." -- Dave Molinari in New York
• The rookie class of 2020-21 has not produced as many exceptional defensemen as the one a year earlier, when the likes of Cale Makar, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes and John Marino, among others, but the Penguins will have to contend with an awfully good one when they face New Jersey Friday and Sunday nights at the Prudential Center in Newark. Ty Smith, a first-round draft choice in 2018, skates well and is the runaway scoring leader among first-year defensemen, with two goals and 19 assists in 38 games. He is averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time, including about 2 1/2 minutes per game during power plays, most of any New Jersey defenseman. Smith is on the small side (5-11, 175 pounds) and probably won't reach his full potential until he bulks up a bit, but figures to be a nice building block for New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald as he constructs his team. And he's definitely is a guy on whom the Penguins will want to keep an eye during the next few games. -- Molinari
• It's no secret the Penguins' pool of quality prospects is awfully shallow, and that wingers Samuel Poulin and Nathan Legare are the most promising players in the pipeline, especially among those who haven't made at least a cursory appearance in the NHL. Hextall has repeatedly acknowledged the need to replenish the franchise's supply of good young talent, but said recently that there are a few guys in the system whose potential might be greater than their profiles. "I think the two goalies are the guys who have popped up, probably, the most (in discussions with his scouts," Hextall said. "(Joel) Blomqvist and (Calle) Clang. That's a good thing because goalies, they take some time. I'm glad we have a couple of prospects in the organization who are starting to be groomed." -- Molinari
PIRATES
• While local and state politicians might have petitioned Major League Baseball this week to bring the All-Star Game to PNC Park, from what I’ve heard, it doesn't seem like the league ever seriously considered bringing the game to Pittsburgh this year. The Pirates last played host in 2006, and with the Rockies getting the game in 2021, the Dodgers 2022 and the Phillies 2026, the Pirates could start to pop up on the radar as a potential host again. PNC Park has a great reputation, and some parks -- such as Tropicana Field and the RingCentral Coliseum -- aren’t in the mix at all. It’s something to keep an eye on in the not so distant future. -- Alex Stumpf
• The Pirates draft talk is, and will almost certainly remain, around Vanderbilt pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. Talking to a couple draft and prospect experts, the position player who is leaving the best impression this year throughout the league, though, is Miami catcher Adrian Del Castillo. He’s hitting .316 with a .905 OPS and 22 RBIs with one of the best projected hit tools and the defensive profile to stick behind the plate. The Pirates aren’t going to use the first-overall pick on need, but expect him to be one of, if not the first, position players selected this year. -- Stumpf
• After a down year in 2019 and an even worse campaign in 2020, Kyle Crick has regained his velocity and spin in 2021 and looks much like his 2018 form. A National League scout also pointed out to me that Crick also has changed his glove position, having it set at chest-level rather than at face-level. Looking at his release points, it’s a small sample, but it does look a little lower than last year as well. Hard to tell right now if it’s correlation or causation, but Crick has tightened up his control. -- Stumpf
