The Steelers have key questions on which cornerbacks they should keep as both Joe Haden and Ahkello Witherspoon are set to be unrestricted free agents heading into the offseason.
Haden has been the Steelers' top cornerback since they signed him just before the 2017 season and he became a veteran leader for the secondary, while Witherspoon only joined the Steelers after an early season trade to acquire him from the 49ers. But by the Steelers' week 13 matchup with the Ravens, both were key parts to the Steelers' pass defense that finished allowing the ninth-fewest yards and seventh-fewest touchdowns in the NFL.
But as the Steelers approach their offseason plans, tough questions will need be asked about which veterans they want to re-sign to a roster that will most likely look significantly different from the one that took the field in 2021. Whether they keep one or both of their veteran quarterbacks from hitting free agency will be a major part of those questions.
The obvious factor to consider is the age difference between the two as Haden will be 33 by the start of the 2022 season and Witherspoon will be 27. Despite Haden's age, he's indicated that he's ready to continue his NFL career, and he wanted to negotiate an extension with the Steelers before the season began. His style of play has never depended too much on speed or assets to a cornerback that decline in the later years of a player's career.
During his time with the Steelers, the only teammate to record more interceptions than Haden's 10 is Minkah Fitzpatrick (11). He's done that by being a technical cornerback who's been an expert on managing leverage against opposing receivers over the years while playing smart, situational football to limit opposing receivers. I broke down the film from his 2020 season last offseason that showed how he was still being a playmaker at this stage of his career.
Even with 2021 being the first season Haden didn't record an interception for the Steelers, Haden found ways to make plays. None of them were bigger than his tackle of Nick Westbrook-Irkhine just short of the first down marker on a fourth down that sealed the Steelers' win over the Titans. Notice how Haden recognized how his receiver's slant cut underneath of another receiver's out route to serve as a screen to get in Haden's way. He cleared the traffic, planted his feet and made the tackle short of the line to gain to win the game:
It was one of the biggest moments of the season for the Steelers in one of their biggest wins.
Haden has been a leader for the Steelers' secondary over the past five years on and off the field. During training camps and in-season practices he could be seen leading the occasional huddle of defensive backs during warm-ups and being in the center of the group.
But Haden's 2021 coverage numbers took the biggest dip in production during his time with the Steelers. While his 37 receptions allowed and 407 yards allowed were among the lowest of his time with the Steelers, his 67.3 completion percentage allowed was by far the highest in his time with the Steelers as the closest was 59.6 percent allowed in 2018. He also allowed five touchdowns while recording zero interceptions, the widest margin between those two statistics of his career.
Haden's biggest problem was how he couldn't be relied upon to operate on an island and wipe out an opponent's top receiver. Here was him against the Chiefs' Byron Pringle on this touchdown during the Chiefs' wildcard win over the Steelers. You can tell Haden's in man coverage because of the inside leverage he tries to establish. But in doing so, Pringle put on a double-move that left Haden behind to create the space in the end zone for him to score. Normally, Haden would find a way to at least stick Pringle with a hand jab that would've disrupted the timing of the route and save the play, but that didn't happen:
Haden used to erase a team's top receiver, but in the Steelers' playoff loss he was struggling to take away Patrick Mahomes' secondary receiving options.
Watch this corner route from Demarcus Robinson that Haden had man coverage responsibility against. You can see Haden give up inside leverage when Robinson broke to the inside and Haden try to use a trail technique to follow him, but then Robinson lost Haden by breaking back to the sideline to make a large passing window for Mahomes:
Haden just wasn't the eraser anymore last year. He's still more than a responsible cornerback who can be an asset to a defense.
But the Steelers don't just need assets next year, they need players who can be difference makers to return the defense to being a top-five group like it had been in 2019 and 2020. That's where Witherspoon could come in, as he was a consistent difference maker once he became a regular cornerback for the defense. In Witherspoon's first snap of the season he gave up a 61-yard touchdown reception to Henry Ruggs against the Raiders.
But after Ahkello became a consistent starter as an outside cornerback in Week 13 against the Ravens, he was more than a solid contributor. On the season he allowed 17 receptions on 35 targets for 266 yards while nabbing three interceptions and breaking up five more passes. That touchdown he surrendered to Ruggs was the only one he gave up during the season.
Watch how Witherspoon faced off against Josh Gordon on this deep ball from Mahomes in the Steelers' regular-season loss to the Chiefs. Gordon runs his route to the corner pylon well and Mahomes does an excellent job extending the play and putting the pass on the money. But Witherspoon knows he's by himself in man-to-man coverage, locking onto Gordon and keeping close the entire way so he could fight through his hands to force the incomplete pass:
Witherspoon displayed solid fundamentals in the second half of the season as a cornerback who made the most interceptions for the Steelers but also didn't do that by looking into the backfield too much.
Many cornerbacks get too greedy by staring down quarterbacks to read their eyes and end up getting beat because they lost their man. Witherspoon does a great job locking onto his man to maintain leverage and proving to be opportunistic when targeted.
Watch this interception he made in press coverage against K.J. Osborn when he defended the slant by jamming his man at the line to knock him off his route. When the ball arrives from Kirk Cousins, Witherspoon is ready:
These are plays that made Witherspoon an asset the Steelers have to consider for their 2022 plans.
Haden took up $15.75 million in cap space last year while Witherspoon only took up $1.5 million after the trade. If Haden were to return to the Steelers, it could not be for the level of money that he earned in 2021 as that kind of money rivals the contracts of the NFL's top producing cornerbacks like Jalen Ramsey, Marlon Humphrey, Marshon Lattimore and Tre'Davious White. If Haden were to come back, it would have to be for approximately half that kind of a salary cap number, and even then the Steelers would need to worry about him being a 33-year old cornerback.
Witherspoon, however, could be a very interesting salary cap case. If the Steelers could bring him back for around the average price per year that cornerbacks like Chris Harris Jr., Patrick Peterson and Kyle Fuller make between $8.0 million and $9.5 million. But in a year when NFL teams will have the largest amount of salary cap space to sign players in the history of the league, both players might be willing to test the market and create bidding wars.
The Steelers should be able to sign a cornerback of their choosing to be the group's top performer ahead of Cameron Sutton next season in addition to another player. The question is whether one of those players will need to be Haden or Witherspoon and how much of the team's salary cap they'll want to spend on the position. With top cornerbacks like J.C. Jackson, Stephon Gilmore and Carton Davis, there will be plenty of options for the Steelers. But pairing one of those signings with a reasonable contract for Witherspoon and Sutton could put the cornerback group back to being one of the better units in the NFL.