Steelers 2-a-days: Future Hall of Fame CB Patrick Peterson added; James Pierre fights to stay on team

Editor’s note: From the end of minicamp through the day the team reports to training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2023 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 16 and July 26. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

CB PATRICK PETERSON

Experience: 13th season

Contract status: $4.225 million cap hit in 2023, signed through 2024

2023 outlook: There aren’t too many active players who can walk into an NFL locker room and encounter teammates who remember following him and idolizing him since their pre-teen days. Peterson, who turned 33 earlier this week, fits into that category. A three-time All Pro and eight-time Pro Bowl honoree who was part of the NFL’s all-decade team for the 2010s, Peterson has built a résumé that likely will result in a bust of his in Canton, Ohio, some day.

But if so, that will largely be based on the 20-something Peterson. After all, he hasn’t made a Pro Bowl since 2018, and last season he was part of a secondary that allowed the second-most passing yards in the NFL (the Minnesota Vikings).

While Peterson is no longer an All Pro-caliber level, he still can help a team. And with 184 games worth of NFL experience, his savvy can help a secondary. It also can allow Peterson to be a versatile chess piece deployed all over a defensive backfield. That flexibility can allow the Steelers, for example, to put whoever their best five or six or seven defensive backs are on the field at any given time. While Peterson has been an outside cornerback most of his career, don’t be surprised if he’s used in the slot/nickel with frequency in 2023. Perhaps, also, Peterson could move back into a safety role for a snap (or series) or two.

Peterson was a significantly cheaper alternative to three-year starting Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton, who signed with the Detroit Lions for $33 million over three years. Peterson, in effect, was signed to replace him, although the Steelers also signed Peterson’s former teammate with the Vikings, Chandon Sullivan, as well as drafted a pair or cornerbacks in Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. Expect Peterson to play as significant a role as any Steelers cornerback.

“I wanted to be part of this pedigree and identity this Steelers team brings to the NFL,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said Thursday after his signing became official. https://t.co/fbuKIo6QwL

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) March 17, 2023

CB JAMES PIERRE

Experience: 4th season

Contract status: $1.3 million cap hit in 2023, after which will be an unrestricted free agent

2023 outlook: Pierre’s Steelers career appeared to be over when the Steelers did not submit a contract tender to him before a March 15 deadline to hold his rights in restricted free agency. But six days later, Pierre was back – at a lower salary. That pretty much fits Pierre’s tenure with the Steelers: They are happy to have him, but not so much so that they are comfortable with him in a prominent role.

Pierre made the team in 2020 as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Florida Atlantic, and he’s appeared in every Steelers game since. Some, more than others. Pierre has not played a snap on defense during 26 of the 50 regular-season games over the past three years. But he’s played 85% or more of the snaps five times. And Pierre has become a regular on the punt teams and on kick coverage.

Pierre has good size (6-2, 185) and NFL-caliber athleticism. (He’d been committed to Power 5 schools before academic issues landed him at FAU.) And he’s started six NFL games at cornerback. But those have come because of injury to others. While the Steelers seem satisfied with Pierre’s special-teams work and appreciate that he can contribute on defense when called upon, they don’t have any desire to give him any more of a significant role than that.

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