Steelers 2-a-days: Veteran strong safety Keanu Neal, ‘Swiss Army Knife’ Tre Norwood seek role

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.

S KEANU NEAL

Experience: 8th season

Contract status: $1.54 million cap hit in 2023, signed through 2024

2023 outlook: Be it the de-valuation of the position across the industry, a new philosophical approach adopted by the Steelers or the fact the organization has so much invested in one All Pro-caliber safety (Minkah Fitzpatrick), the Steelers have been hesitant to spend too much on a player to start next to Fitzpatrick in the secondary. In 2021, they elected to decline a fifth-year option on a perfectly adequate starting strong safety (Terrell Edmunds) – and did not aggressively seek to replace him once Edmunds hit free agency. The move paid off when Edmunds signed a bargain contract two weeks into the 2022 UFA period.

A similar situation played out this March, when the Steelers again let Edmunds’ contract expire – and they again waited two weeks to sign a veteran strong safety to a modest deal. This time, it was Neal. Neal, who will turn 28 on reporting day for training camp, is entering his eighth NFL season. He’s not the game-changer who was drafted 17th overall in 2016, but he is a reliable veteran who’s made 61 starts, including eight last season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Neal (6-0, 211) is an ideal complement to Fitzpatrick in that he is purely an “in the box” type of safety, like Edmunds was. The Steelers re-signed Damontae Kazee, signaling the return of the three-safety look they used with frequency late last season. The work timeshare will evolve over camp and the preseason, but expect Neal to be featured significantly on running downs and perhaps as a hybrid inside linebacker in passing situations.

> A former first-round pick and eighth-year veteran, Neal was out of work and looking for a team that could use a hard-nosed safety and player capable of moving into a linebacker role in subpackage situations.https://t.co/2HOktB31ft

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) June 12, 2023

S TRE NORWOOD

Experience: 3rd season

Contract status: $963,610 cap hit in 2023, signed through 2024

2023 outlook: Norwood was famously announced as “Swiss Army Knife” by coach Mike Tomlin when Tomlin announced him as a seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft. And Norwood has largely lived up to that billing. According to Pro Football Focus, Norwood through two NFL seasons has played 260 snaps at free safety, 138 as an “in the box” safety, 231 as a slot/nickel cornerback, 12 as an outside corner and four while lined up in a pass-rush-style look. That’s in addition to being one of the Steelers’ most relied-upon special teams players.

Those contributions for 2021 and 2022 alone make him a worthwhile draft pick taken at the 245th overall slot. Norwood appeared in each of the Steelers’ first 33 games they played since he was drafted – missing only the final two regular-season contests of last season because of a hamstring injury.

But the proverbial arrow is pointing down in regards to Norwood’s usage on defense. He started his NFL debut and played every Steelers defensive snap of a game later in that 2021 season (Week 10 against the Los Angeles Chargers). But since then he’s played more than 23% of a game’s defensive snaps just five times. Over the previous eight games before his injury in 2022, Norwood played just 11 snaps on defense.

The offseason additions of free agents Patrick Peterson, Chandon Sullivan and Neal, along with the re-signing of Damontae Kazee and the drafting of Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr., put Norwood’s prospects for playing time in the Steelers secondary in peril.

Norwood is liked by coaches and teammates, has strong football aptitude and has been reliable on special teams. So it is likely he keeps his roster spot. But it will probably take an injury or two for him to have a role on the defense. With Norwood’s versatility, that could come at a variety of spots.

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