Two months and two on-field team practice sessions with his new team, Levi Wallace still was working his way around the people who work every day at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

And not just his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates.

“I don’t think I will feel comfortable until I learn everybody’s name,” Wallace said after an organized team activities workout earlier this summer. “Not just the players, but the workers in the kitchen and stuff like that. I need to get all that down to really feel comfortable.”

Presumably by now, Wallace is on a first-name basis with Steelers executive chef Kevin Blinn and the rest of the staff that prepares and serves the excellent food Wallace enjoys daily at the Steelers’ facility. But Steelers defensive coaches are probably more concerned with Wallace’s comfort level with the playbook.

Signed to a two-year, $8 million contract on the second day of unrestricted free agency in March, Wallace is expected to serve as one of the three cornerbacks who most often are on the field for the Steelers.

“Speaking for myself, I have always been able to pick up defenses really easily,” said Wallace, who spent his first four NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills. “All it is is just the terminology is a little different, but they have some unique stuff here that we didn’t do in Buffalo.

“I’ve picked it up pretty easy, but it’s just you have to go out there and rep it. So, it’s been fun and basically makes me think a little differently as far as scheme-wise, but I have enjoyed it so far.”

Domination of IM flag football inspired Steelers CB Levi Wallace to walk on at Alabama, writes @C_AdamskiTrib https://t.co/ddDdeGkLug

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) April 1, 2022

Wallace started each of the past 57 games for which he was healthy for the Bills, whom he joined as an undrafted free agent in 2018. Wallace played every snap of his NFL regular-season debut during a Week 10 win at the New York Jets that 2018 rookie season, and he kept his starting gig ever since.

That made him an attractive and relatively inexpensive option for the Steelers to replace Joe Haden, their most senior starting cornerback over the past five seasons who was allowed to walk via free agency himself at age 33 this spring.

Haden remains unsigned, and the Steelers seem content at cornerback this season with a starting three of Wallace and returnees Ahkello Witherspoon and Cameron Sutton. It’s only a matter of how, exactly, the division of labor shakes out.

All three can make their case to start at outside cornerback — and in the cases of Wallace and Witherspoon, that’s the only place they’ve played significantly at in the NFL. Sutton is the longest-tenured with the Steelers of that group (with the team since being drafted in 2017), and he has (barely) the biggest contract of the three (his averages $4.5 million over two years; like Wallace, Witherspoon is on a two-year, $8 million deal).

“Let’s hope it’s a position battle everywhere,” Steelers secondary coach Grady Brown said. “Competition breeds top-notch effort, top-notch attention to detail, so we would like to think that it’s competition throughout the secondary.”

Levi Wallace takes it back for the @BuffaloBills!

Second INT for the Bills defense tonight. #BillsMafia

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— NFL (@NFL) December 14, 2020

During OTAs and minicamp, Wallace said he played on the outside. It seems likely that the Steelers’ plan is for Sutton to play the nickel spot in the slot, but that doesn’t mean he is the “No. 3” among the Steelers’ top three cornerbacks (the one who would come off the field when they are in their “base” defense during run-first situations for the opposing offense). Sutton could move back outside in the base defense, but if so, will it be at the expense of Witherspoon or Wallace?

“I believe it’s my job to get the best players on the field,” Brown said, “so if all three (prove worthy) … hopefully all three of them are playing at a very high level and you create, if you want to label it a competition, you can, but my job is just to make sure all the guys are all playing at a high level. And from that, we will find a way to get everyone on the field.”

Wallace humbly sees himself as a dependable starter who can play every snap. Standing 6-foot and 179 pounds, he brings some length to the Steelers’ secondary.

He also brings a proven resume, having graded among the top half of the NFL’s cornerbacks by Pro Football Focus each season of his career.

“It’s different. This is the first time I have changed teams,” Wallace said. “But it’s exciting at the same time. You’re getting to know and learn from people and build new relationships. I look forward to it.”

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