There seems to be the prevailing theory among the Steelers' fans that the team doesn't have a nickel cornerback. The truth is that the nickel corner has been staring them in the face all along.
It might not be what some thought would happen at the start of training camp, but the Steelers nickel corner is, in fact, second-year corner James Pierre.
The confusion arises from the fact it will actually be Cam Sutton sliding inside to the slot when the Steelers bring a third cornerback onto the field. But that doesn't make Pierre any less the nickel cornerback, even though the Steelers aren't confirming that.
Their reasoning? They want to keep the Bills, their opening opponent Sept. 12 in Buffalo, guessing.
"We’ve got several guys and I’m not gonna tell you who the guy is. I’m gonna make Buffalo figure that out, okay?," defensive coordinator Keith Butler said Wednesday, the Steelers' last day of practice this week. "We’ve got several guys who can play and move around in different positions, and we’re gonna move them around in different positions. In terms of who’s gonna be the nickel, who’s gonna be the left corner, who’s gonna be the right corner, who’s gonna be the free safety, the strong safety, all that stuff, fortunately for us, we’ve got some guys who know the whole defense and they know what we’re gonna expect out of each position. We can change positions with them if we need to."
But in the past few weeks, they've bumped Sutton, their starting right cornerback, inside and brought Pierre onto the field when they go to their nickel to play opposite left cornerback Joe Haden.
That would appear to be the plan -- at least against the Bills.
It wasn't what the team necessarily opened camp wanting to do, but the play of Pierre and the lack of emergence of another player capable of playing the slot have forced the issue.
The Steelers tried Antoine Brooks, Arthur Maulet and Tre Norwood in the slot, but Brooks was injured early in camp and could not get back onto the field. He was waived/injured. And while Maulet and Norwood are both on the team's 53-man roster, Pierre played better in camp and in the preseason.
They remain options, as does former Raiders' first-round pick Karl Joseph, who was signed to the team's practice squad Wednesday and is expected to be added to the active roster once he clears COVID-19 protocols. Joseph has appeared in 63 career games, including 49 starts as a strong safety. But Sutton remains the best option in the slot -- at least for now.
"It doesn't matter to Cam. Cam can do it all," said Pierre. "He knows a lot. He helped out team out a lot. It doesn't matter, he can handle it all."
But, obviously, it would have been easier on Sutton had someone else proven capable of handling the slot duties.
"Obviously," Sutton said. "Who wouldn't want to remain stationary."
The Steelers also need a backup to Sutton not only to cover themselves in case of injury, but to be able to play a dime defense with two slot players if needed.
And that could be something the Steelers definitely need against the Bills. Buffalo led the NFL last season in usage of three receivers, employing that scheme 71 percent of the time. And only the Cardinals had more instances of four receivers on the field in 2020 than the Bills, who did it 186 times.
The Steelers were near the bottom of the league in nickel defense usage last season, particularly after losing Devin Bush to a torn ACL, employing that defensive formation just 39.7 percent of the time, well below the 58.9 percent league average.
The Steelers' plan to play more nickel defense this season with both Bush and recently acquired fellow linebacker Joe Schobert staying on the field, but four receiver sets might force their hand to take an additional linebacker off the field in favor of a defensive back.
"Right now our two inside linebackers are fitting best in that role," Butler said. "And that’s a nickel for us, not a dime package. A dime package for us is four DBs, two safeties, and a linebacker. We’re using our nickel right now. Our nickel has been good for us. We like it. We like to be able to do some of the things we want to do, not just cover all the time, but to blitz and put pressure on the quarterback and run a couple of different coverages.
"To make us a little bit more versatile, we’re better off in nickel. To me, the times that we’re going to play dime in the league: probably 10 percent. If people start throwing four wide receivers on us, of course we want to match up and to put the people out there, so we’ll see in terms of what we have to defend. We’ll go through that. Nobody’s trying to hold their cards close to their chest. We’ll see as we go along. We want to be ready to have a dime situation or a dime personnel group and feel confident about all that, and we will do that. But right now, I think we’re better off, like everybody in the league, running keys. Keys are three wide receivers and a tight end in the back. That’s what everybody in the league is doing right now, so we’re gonna match it with our nickel group because we feel like that’s been our best ball players on the field."
