In safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds and cornerbacks Joe Haden and Cam Sutton, the Steelers feel pretty good about their starting defensive secondary.
It's that fifth man who is still a major question for the team, which just completed its fourth training camp practice here at the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex Sunday afternoon.
Despite losing nickel cornerback Mike Hilton to free agency and releasing Steven Nelson, a starter on the outside, the Steelers essentially have four players fighting for that one nickel spot, and how that plays out could determine a lot this season when it comes to the style of defensive football they play.
If it's second-year player Antoine Brooks or veteran Arthur Maulet, it would allow the Steelers to keep Sutton on the outside rather than simply have him slide inside to replace Hilton, who signed with the Bengals. If the best fifth option turns out to be third-year cornerback Justin Layne or second-year player James Pierre, that would mean Sutton has to slide inside in the nickel since both Layne and Pierre are boundary cornerbacks.
It's something that could go right up to the start of the regular season Sept. 12 when the Steelers travel to Buffalo for their opener.
"I don’t think there’s a date in mind. It will shake itself out," defensive backs coach Teryl Austin said. "Those things usually do once you play a couple of preseason games and you see them in a competitive situation. One guy usually separates from the other. It will work itself out. And I’m not worried about Cam if it doesn’t work out with one of those other guys and we had to move Cam back inside. He can get ready for that with a week’s worth of reps."
Thus far, Brooks and Maulet have rotated days with the first-team unit, though Brooks suffered what Mike Tomlin judged was a minor injury Sunday and left practice early. Both have had their hands in making plays, something the coaching staff has wanted to see.
Hilton was nothing if not a playmaker who was always around the ball. Though he was listed at just 5-foot-9 and 184 pounds, the former Mississippi star was an excellent blitzer, recording 9.5 sacks and 23 quarterback hits the previous four seasons, while also showing a nose for the ball. He had seven interceptions, five fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles working from the slot.
"You’d like to have someone with a Mike Hilton-skillset or clone or whatever you want to call it," Austin conceded. "But Mike was unbelievable in the run game and the timing of the blitzes and everything. If you can get any of that with any of those guys, I think you might like that. We’ll take it. The bottom line is that whoever is the best player for our defense, that’s the guy who has to be out there, whether it’s the nickel or the corner, that’s who it’s gotta be."
Brooks might be the closest thing to that. A safety by trade, the 5-11, 210-pound former sixth-round pick has the size to be a force against the run and as a blitzer out of the slot. In fact, he recorded 3.5 sacks for Maryland while playing in the slot throughout the course of his career.
That's how he got himself on the Steelers' radar. Tomlin's son, Dino, plays at Maryland, so the head coach got a first-hand look at his skillset.
"He’d seen him play in games before we drafted him and stuff like that," defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. "He’s still got a lot to learn but we think he’s capable of doing it, capable of learning. We’re not gonna not be competitive with him, meaning that we’re going to get somebody behind him that’s going to be competitive with him to push him a little bit. And we try to do that with everybody on our defense."
That guy would be Maulet, who played 247 snaps last season for the Jets in the slot. At 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, he's a little more slight than Brooks. But he's got NFL experience, having also seen time with the Saints and Colts.
Last season, Maulet had 29 tackles, a sack and an interception.
"It’s good," Austin said of that competition. "You’ve got a veteran guy and a second-year guy. Those guys are really starting to turn it on. First part of OTAs and mini-camp, it was kind of ‘Oh boy, watch out.’ Now, they’ve kind of adapted well and both started off camp strongly. I think that’s going to be a really good battle. It will help us as a team if both of them are performing at a really high level."
But the Steelers also could turn to Layne or Pierre at any time, as well. That would involve moving Sutton into the slot, where he played 271 snaps last season, mostly when Hilton was out with a shoulder injury.
But he's also played there in previous seasons when the Steelers go to their dime defense and two slot corners are utilized. If the Steelers want to play more dime this season, that could be the plan, as well, meaning Layne or Pierre would be on the field.
"That scenario is always there because we want to put our best guys on the field," Austin said. "Right now, what we’re working with is that we know Cam can play nickel, but he’s playing outside now as a starter. We don’t know what we have inside at nickel. We know also that if James Pierre has an outstanding camp, or Justin Layne, who is doing well, as well, if those guys play lights out in the preseason, whoever the five best are, that’s the guys we want on the field."