The Steelers' signing of Damontae Kazee hours after the NFL Draft ended earlier this year didn't garner many headlines. It's hard to get noticed when a team has just spent the entire weekend acquiring new talent -- particularly a first-round quarterback.
But as training camp wore on this summer, it became very apparent the Steelers didn't view Kazee as just depth at the safety position. They had a plan to use the former starter with the Falcons and Cowboys. And they planned to use him a lot.
Throughout camp and into the preseason, we saw instances where Kazee would enter the game at free safety, allowing the Steelers to shift All-Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick up into the box, often in the slot. It freed Fitzpatrick, the Steelers' best playmaker in the secondary more freedom to do different things than just play deep centerfield.
But Kazee suffered a fractured forearm in the Steelers' preseason finale, a 19-9 win over the Lions, and was placed on injured reserve late this week. He can return from injured reserve after four weeks and should be ready to do so.
Does that mean the team will scrap its plans to move Fitzpatrick around the defense -- at least for the first month of the regular season?
Not necessarily.
"We've got other players who can play deep," cornerback Cam Sutton, one of those players, told me. "That's the great thing about our secondary. We've got a lot of guys who can do different things. We're interchangeable."
The Steelers do have a lot of interchangeable pieces in their secondary. Sutton can play on the outside, in the slot or at safety. Safety Tre Norwood can play free safety or in the slot. Kazee can play both free and strong safety and in the slot, as well. Fitzpatrick can, and has, played every spot in the secondary at one point or another in his career.
But the best option to play was Kazee, who has 49 career starts under his belt in five NFL seasons.
"I think it wasn't a desire to get Minkah to ball hunt. It was a desire to get a really good football player on the field," defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. "I think Kazee is a good football player. And that's really what it was to try to get your best players and put them in position to make some good plays. Obviously, the added bonus of that was it freed Minkah up a little bit more."
So, it will be interesting to see how the Steelers deploy the players in their secondary with Kazee out.
One bonus of playing Fitzpatrick in the slot -- where he played extensively as a rookie with the Dolphins in 2018 -- is that he's a good blitzer. And it gives the team a bigger body near the line of scrimmage to help stop the run, as well.
But Arthur Maulet, who missed the last three weeks of training camp and the preseason with a hamstring injury, is adept at helping in run support and blitzing, as well.
The Steelers don't necessarily want him running in coverage downfield, though.
They seemed to feel Kazee was their best option to allow Fitzpatrick to play in a big nickel package. With him out, they'll have to mix and match a little bit more.
On obvious passing downs, they'll play things more like they did last season, with Sutton and/or Norwood in the slot in nickel and dime packages. On early downs against three receiver packages, they'll play Maulet a little more. But they still have the option to mix things up a little bit and send Fitzpatrick to the slot and put Sutton or Norwood at free safety if they choose.
"We can still do different things," Sutton said. "The idea is to not allow the quarterback to zero in on any one thing."
• According to ESPN.com's Field Yates, new Steelers outside linebacker Malik Reed agreed to a restructured contract with the team that lowers his contract from $2.43 million to a base salary of $1.5 million.
Reed, whom the Steelers acquired earlier this week along with a seventh-round draft pick from the Broncos for a sixth-round draft pick, said he wanted to come to Pittsburgh and asked Denver to pursue a trade here.
"I heard there was a lot of interest," Reed said. "They were reaching out about me. I know the Steelers are a top-notch organization. I know coach (Mike) Tomlin is a top-notch coach. I was more than happy to come here."
Reed's contract is a straight reduction in salary, which is surprising. But his agent, Mike McCartney confirmed that to me.
Reed sees the big picture here. He has 13 sacks the past two seasons with Broncos. He's joining a defense that has led the league in sacks five consecutive seasons.
Reed is just 26 and if he has a season similar to the past two, he can cash in after this season.
And if Reed would happen to get a good contract in the offseason, it would help the Steelers' compensatory pick formula. It could be a win-win.
"I’m ready to embrace whatever opportunity I get," said Reed. "I’m here for a reason. I’m here to embrace it, and I’m ready to roll."
• It's not beyond the realm of possibilities the Broncos missed on playing Reed more. Shaq Barrett had seven combined sacks in his final two seasons with the Broncos in limited playing time before going to the Bucs as a free agent in 2019 and had 19.5 sacks.
That, according to McCartney, is what the Reed is thinking by taking the salary reduction with the Steelers. He likes the situation and feels he'll shine here, even in a backup role to T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
• Week 1 just might be the perfect time for the Steelers to play the Bengals.
Wide receiver Tee Higgins, who had shoulder surgery in the offseason, still hasn't returned to practice. Quarterback Joe Burrow just returned to practice after an appendectomy Aug. 24. Linebacker Logan Wilson, who had surgery to repair a torn labrum in the offseason, also has been out of practice the entire preseason and will be questionable to play against the Steelers.
Those are three key players who, even if they play against the Steelers, missed an awful lot of practice time in August.
• The fact the Steelers placed Calvin Austin on IR late this week and didn't do anything with Diontae Johnson is good news.
I spoke with Austin this week and he seemed pretty optimistic he is close to 100 percent healed from the foot injury that forced him to miss all three of the team's preseason games.
That, coupled with Johnson's shoulder injury suffered in the team's preseason finale and its decision to keep seven wide receivers on its initial 53-man roster caused some concern regarding Johnson's status.
But with Austin going on IR Thursday, the Steelers seem to feel Johnson will be OK.
