Steelers 2-a-days: Rookie Antoine Brooks, journeyman Breon Borders seek roles in secondary

Editor’s note: Leading up to a unique Pittsburgh Steelers training campstaged at Heinz Field this year, the Tribune-Review will be running through the team’s 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2020 season. The breakdown will go through the roster, in mostly alphabetical order, two per day, between June 9 and July 23, a day that was originally planned to be reporting day for players to camp. (Contract data courtesy spotrac.com)

CB Breon Borders

Experience: 13 NFL games since signing as undrafted rookie in 2017

Contract status: $750,000 cap hit in 2020, under team control for three seasons

2020 outlook: After taking plenty of swings — and usually whiffing — on cornerbacks (sometimes two at a time) in drafts for more than a decade, the Steelers stood pat at the position in April for the second time over the past three drafts. A big reason for that is the pair of quality veterans they finally have found to headline cornerback for the team.

The Steelers also bypassed on cornerbacks in free agency. But when the Washington Redskins released Borders in March, the Steelers scooped him up. It was his sixth NFL team in the 35 months since he was signed by the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2017 (also: Buffalo, Houston, Jacksonville, Washington). The 6-foot, 189-pound Borders has appeared in 13 NFL regular-season games, including 12 last season (11 for the Jaguars, one for the Redskins) when he mostly was a reserve DB and special-teamer. The majority of his career snaps have come in the slot.

Borders will have to show a special-teams proficiency and potential as a sub-package DB to have a shot at making the Steelers’ 53-man roster.

#Steelers were intrigued by Antoine Brooks’ ability to fit into a hybrid role as a box safety or dime linebacker, and they are thin at inside linebacker. https://t.co/tnEuTVK40b

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) May 10, 2020

S Antoine Brooks

Experience: Rookie

Contract status: Has yet to sign standard rookie four-year contract

2020 outlook: The Steelers had to address safety in the draft, and they did, even if they waited until the sixth round to do so. Although the Steelers are in great shape at the top of that position’s depth chart with Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds, after that, things get murky. Brooks joins a group headed by longtime special-teamer Jordan Dangerfield and 2018 fifth-round pick Marcus Allen as those jockeying to be the top backups. First-year players John Battle and Tyree Kinnel also are in the safety position room.

Brooks could carve out a niche as a subpackage chess piece. It’s believed his best work is done “in the box,” and the Steelers seem to want a hybrid linebacker. With a strong camp, that could be Brooks’ ticket to the field.

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