Steelers safety Jordan Dangerfield follows the rules in trying to find a role

Jordan Dangerfield has spent his football career trying to find a balance between breaking barriers and following the rules. That’s typical life for an undrafted free agent in the NFL.

Even when Dangerfield was playing with the first-team defense during organized team activities this spring, the Pittsburgh Steelers safety always reminded himself of the rules.

So he brought a backup’s mentality to a starting role.

“That’s the first rule: Never get comfortable,” Dangerfield said. “There’s always somebody in life trying to take your spot. You’ve got to come out and prove it every day.”

The 28-year-old is trying to carve a spot in the Steelers’ secondary as the No. 3 safety behind starters Sean Davis and Terrell Edmunds and a valuable special-teams player. While Davis missed the first two weeks of OTAs, Dangerfield took advantage of his extra snaps at free safety.

“It’s been big,” Dangerfield said. “I’ve been here. I know the defense.”

Not only that, Dangerfield knows the struggle. The 5-foot-11, 199-pounder was undrafted out of Towson and spent the summer of 2013 with the Buffalo Bills before being released for the first of six times in as many seasons.

A less-motivated player might not have lasted.

“They would have folded,” Dangerfield said. “That’s why I’m different. I’m built different. I keep my faith. Every time I get an opportunity, I’m thankful and make the most of it.”

Dangerfield signed with the Steelers in January 2014 and spent the next two seasons on the practice squad and bouncing back and forth from the 53-man roster. Dangerfield’s NFL debut came in 2016, when he started two games, and he started another last season.

“I don’t take any day for granted,” Dangerfield said, “because I’ve been through the ups and downs, been through life without football – a whole year, a few weeks even when I was healthy – so all I’ve got to do is think about those hard times and I’m motivated every day.”

As Dangerfield pursued an NFL career, he continued to chase his backup plan. He needed 12 credits to graduate, so he took two classes in the 2014 spring semester, one in 2016 and two last summer. He finished his course work this spring and earned his degree in sports management with a minor in business.

It was important to Dangerfield, fulfilling a promise he made to himself to cross the finish line and an example to show his wife and young son that he would finish what he started.

“I’m in the middle of this but looking to the future,” Dangerfield said. “It’s a backup plan, something to fall back on after football. Whatever I decide to do, I’ve got that in my back pocket.”

That mentality has served Dangerfield well. When the Steelers didn’t draft a safety this year after taking Edmunds and Marcus Allen last year, Dangerfield took that as a vote of confidence.

“I didn’t watch the draft but I ended up finding out they didn’t draft a safety and that was big,” Dangerfield said. “I’m just taking advantage of the opportunity and making the most of it, continue to show them what I got.”

But Dangerfield still has competition in Allen, AAF alum Kameron Kelly and undrafted free agent Dravon Askew-Henry, an Aliquippa product who started four years at West Virginia. It’s why Dangerfield continues to embrace the underdog mentality after three NFL seasons, heeding Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s mantra that he’d rather say “whoa” than “sick ‘em.”

“It’s a blessing, for real. I don’t take one day for granted in my journey. That’s why I give it my all every day,” Dangerfield said. “You don’t take a play for granted, a day for granted and I give my all all the time. I’ve got something to prove.”

And rules to follow that will help him find a role.

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