Steelers hoping to take advantage of ‘half linebacker, half safety’ Antoine Brooks

A prevailing opinion heading into last week’s draft was the Pittsburgh Steelers could have used immediate help at seven positions.

With six picks at their disposal, that was a problem.

The Steelers ultimately got reinforcements at wide receiver, outside linebacker, running back and offensive line with their first four picks. They would nab a defensive tackle in the seventh round.

That left one pick for two positions of need, safety and inside linebacker, in this frenetic game of draft-pick musical chairs. What were general manager Kevin Colbert & Co. to do?

Split the difference.

When their turn in the sixth round came Saturday, the Steelers took Maryland’s Antoine Brooks at No. 198 overall.

“He’s half a linebacker. He’s half a safety,” Colbert said.

Brooks spent his first year on campus as a reserve linebacker then, as a sophomore, moved to nickel corner. It paid off immediately: he was honorable mention Big Ten. The ascension continued as he played safety during his junior (third-team All-Big Ten) and senior (second-team All-Big Ten) seasons.

Not that it fully defined Brooks’ position for the Terrapins.

“I played nickel. I played in the slot. I played in the box,” Brooks said. “I played in the box because I’m aggressive. That’s just my nature. I like to be in the play. Other than that, I did a lot of blitzing. I did a lot of moving around when I was at Maryland.”

Was named Maryland’s team MVP, second-team Big Ten by the conference’s coaches and third-team Big Ten by media.https://t.co/axcakaynAV

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) April 25, 2020

That is part of what attracted the Steelers to Brooks. With All-Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick and recent first-round pick Terrell Edmunds entrenched at safety for the Steelers, Brooks’ fastest ticket to playing time probably is a hybrid role.

It is far too early to identify a role or provide a player comparison for Brooks. But the Steelers have not replaced Mark Barron, whom they released last month. Barron was drafted into the NFL as a safety but played a linebacker’s role for the Steelers in 2019.

If Brooks shows he deserves to be on the field, there could be a subpackage role for the taking because there is no one on the roster outside of Edmunds, Fitzpatrick, Vince Williams or Devin Bush who are proven commodities who could fit in a dime-like subpackage.

“Right now, we anticipate (Brooks) will be able to do that,” senior defensive assistant/secondary coach Teryl Austin said. “All the research by the scouts and everybody, we anticipate that he will be able to do it, but until he gets here, we won’t know.”

On Saturday, Antoine Brooks Jr. decision to keep playing was rewarded when the #Steelers selected the Maryland safety in the sixth round of the NFL Draft. https://t.co/uzXwg6dhn6

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) April 26, 2020

What is encouraging is as Brooks morphed into more of a defensive back than a linebacker, he gained weight. The 5-foot-11 Brooks was listed at 205 pounds in high school, 215 by Maryland and 220 after the NFL Combine.

Barron, the sake of comparison, is listed at 230.

Ten or 20 years ago, being a so-called “tweener” was a mark draft prospects did not want. In a modern game that is more reliant on passing and subpackages, that hybrid ability is a desirable trait. Even college programs look for those types of players to combat increasingly spread offenses.

“You saw a lot of those things on (Brooks’) Big Ten tape,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “and so it made it easy to potentially forecast his abilities to do those things.

“We’re excited about him as a safety. We’re excited about him as a subpackage player. We’re excited about maybe what he could bring to us as a special teamer, as well. That 220-pound body is a very useful body in today’s game.”

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