The Slot: Will Peterson become the Steelers’ answer at nickelback?
Following free agency and the 2023 NFL Draft, there remained a lot of questions surrounding the depth in the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive backfield in the traditional slot corner or nickelback position. Both Arthur Maulet and Cameron Sutton left the team, leaving a hole in the center of the Steelers’ coverage defense. Defensive backs coach Grady Brown, in tandem with Mike Tomlin, has spent time during OTAs taking a hard look at who they feel could fill that role during the 2023 NFL season. With the signing of veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson during the offseason, will he become the answer the team needs in that position?
We take a look at the players that have been working out in the nickel and dime positions and how Brown sees the team moving forward as training camp approaches.
The cornerbacks
Joe Kuzma already presented a piece that outlined the current rostered cornerbacks with the Steelers this summer. They include recently-drafted Joey Porter Jr., Levi Wallace, James Pierre, Cory Trice, Chandon Sullivan, Duke Dawson, Chris Wilcox, Luq Barcoo, and Peterson. Madre Harper was also added as a corner, recently.
In that piece, Kuzma wrote:
The entire picture of the cornerbacks room isn’t complete without talking about the safeties (which is forthcoming), due to some chatter than the elder Peterson could dabble in some other looks around the secondary, including a switch to the safety position in the future. For now, he’s the veteran to lead Porter to superstardom, while writing his own story.
The picture still isn’t clear, although it appears to be coming into a bit more focus now that OTAs have been underway. Based on how the players have been shifted into practice groups, it appears that Grady Brown is focused on Sullivan, Dawson, and Elijah Riley… though he hasn’t ruled-out Peterson as a nickelback in the Steelers defense this year.
Time in the slot
Sullivan has the most NFL experience playing the slot position. A six-year veteran (formerly with the Minnesota Vikings) has started 31-of-71 career games nearly exclusively in the slot for both Minnesota and the Green Bay Packers. Sullivan has logged 23 pass defenses, five interceptions, one pick-six, two quarterback hits, and a fumble recovery during that time but it’s his tackles and completion stats that are key here.
In six seasons, Sullivan has 169 (136 solo) tackles with four tackles for a loss. Last season, Sullivan allowed just one touchdown in 17 games (10 starts) and limited tight ends and receivers he was covering to just 8.9 yards per target and 12.5 yards per completion. Sullivan was also very good at bringing down the player he was assigned to, missing just 4.8% of tackles (missed tackles divided by missed plus combined tackles per Pro Football Reference).
Dawson, listed as a “defensive back”, is entering his fourth NFL season has appeared in just 26 games during the 2019 and 2020 Denver Broncos before he went to the Carolina Panthers in 2022 and spent his time on injured/reserved. Signed to a reserves/futures contract in January by the Steelers, he’s a relative newcomer to not only the team but still has a learning curve when it comes to finding his real place in the NFL with just four starts in his career.
Riley, listed as a “safety” on the roster, has been with the Steelers since he was claimed off of waivers from the New York Jets in August 2022. Riley appeared in 17 career games, including seven starts, but has played in just four games for Pittsburgh. This year will be his third in the NFL since spending time with both the Philadelphia Eagles and Jets after a collegiate career at Army.
“I’m excited to watch the nickels compete… making sure we give all three guys, as much as possible, equal opportunity. All three of them are viable candidates and I’m excited to see all of them work this week.” – DB coach Gary Brown at mandatory minicamp.
Total the previous statistics up for those three players, though, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions that will likely be answered at training camp. Minicamp likely isn’t enough time to sort out the real answer at who should start.
Enter Peterson
Anyone who’s familiar with Peterson knows the body of work he has put together in his twelve year career prior to joining the Steelers. Has he changed over the course of that career? Yes, of course he has. In 2022, Peterson put together his second-best career performance and feels that he has more to offer, including the option to utilize him as a roving nickelback in Pittsburgh’s secondary.
The idea of moving a guy around that makes opponents uncomfortable is something that has Tomlin and Brown mulling the idea of Peterson being that guy in the slot. “When you have versatility, what I have learned in the NFL, we cannot allow quarterbacks to be comfortable pre-snap,” Brown said this week. “When you have a guy that can move around and there’s some anxiety or trepidation, whatever word you want to use… it always helps us.”
If the Steelers feel that Wallace, who came on strong last season, can help as a deep corner with Peterson coaching-up Porter Jr. during camp to handle the other outside corner spot, it looks like Sullivan and Peterson would be the two guys in the most serious contention for the nickel spot at training camp.
Again, we haven’t previewed the safety position yet ahead of camp (it’s coming, folks) and if the Steelers utilize more three-safety looks, things could open up a bit more when it comes to personnel packages.
I’m not convinced that Peterson currently is the answer at nickel mainly due to the unknowns in how Trice, Dawson, Wilcox, Barcoo, and Harper will shake out at cornerback. They’re obviously all competing for spots, but I’m anxiously awaiting clear evidence that any of them are showing signs of standing out in the crowd. I also think a lot depends on how quickly Porter Jr. settles into his role in this defense.
If the Steelers are able to nail down three solid cornerbacks and three solid safeties that they believe will be week-in, week-out starters that can shut down opposing offenses, I will not be surprised to see Peterson play the nickel position, though. In fact, I think the Steelers would love to utilize him in tandem with safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to create a very dynamic and fluid defensive backfield that would terrorize opponents frequently this upcoming season.
The short answer is this: maybe. Peterson is an intriguing player and piece of this Steelers defense that will be increasingly interesting to watch, especially in training camp.
