Juan Thornhill making plays, talking big: Steelers defense ‘can be one of the best of all-time’

Watch a Pittsburgh Steelers practice, you’ll see Juan Thornhill.

More to the point, you’ll hear Juan Thornhill.

A veteran safety signed to a one-year, $3 million contract in March, Thornhill has been one of the most talkative players on the practice fields at Saint Vincent during this training camp. And for a defense that fell apart at the end of last season in part because of communication breakdowns, it’s been welcome that he’s one of the most communicative, too.

“I’m very well, very vocal,” Thornhill said after Wednesday’s practice, “and letting guys know what we’re doing. And if you know what you’re doing, you can play at a high level.”

Thornhill has been at a high level at the end of each of the past two days of practice on Chuck Noll Field. A Thornhill interception of Aaron Rodgers ended the first-team 2-minute drill on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Two days in a row in the two-minute drill, I closed it out,” Thornhill said. “So, it was good. It was a good feeling, getting my hands on the football.”

That type of playmaking is in need from the deep safety position after Minkah Fitzpatrick had only one interception over the past two seasons combined. Thornhill, for his part, credits the upgrades the Steelers have made along the defensive line and at cornerback for freeing him up to make plays.

“When you’ve got guys up front like we do, and you’ve got guys on the corner that can cover guys very well,” Thornhill said, “that (forces) the quarterback to throw the ball to the middle of the field a lot more, which allows me to make more plays on the ball.”

Thornhill, who has a Super Bowl ring from his four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and spent the past two years with the Cleveland Browns, is one of a handful of veteran acquisitions on defense. There’s cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay and fellow safety Chuck Clark, in addition to drafted defensive linemen Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black to go along with a returning pair of likely future Hall of Famers in edge rusher T.J. Watt and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward, among others.

It’s enough to have Thornhill using his voice to talk big about the Steelers defense.

“I think it can be one of the best of all time,” he said. “I’m putting that out there now. One of the best of all time.

“We’ve got pieces everywhere. Look at the roster. Look at who we have. It’s incredible. Like, literally, I don’t feel like there’s a weakness on the defense. If you look at most teams, you know you got that fish out there. You know that one person or that one or two people that you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure.’ But with us, literally, there’s none. That’s unbelievable. Linebackers that are great and DBs that can cover anyone.”