The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New York Jets in Week 1, but they suffered a few key injuries. The most notable one was to DeShon Elliott. He was one of the Steelers’ best defenders last season and arguably their best tackler. Without Elliott, the Steelers are lacking a consistent presence in their secondary. While he’s reportedly only expected to miss a few weeks, the Steelers are signing veteran Jabrill Peppers to help fill his role in the meantime. Former Steelers cornerback Joe Haden broke down how he thinks the Steelers could use Peppers.
“I played with Jabrill in Cleveland when he got drafted there. That’s a football player,” Haden said Tuesday on his Deebo and Joe podcast. “We could have him at safety or slot nickel. Wherever opposite of where Jalen [Ramsey]’s at, slide him down, he could blitz, nickelback or safety. Nickel safety for sure.
“Only reason I say nickel is because he can cover tight ends and he can blitz. He’s a tackler. Like the way we used Mike Hilton. If the Steelers use Jabrill like Mike Hilton, that would be nice. We need some people that’s in that joint filling up some of these holes.”
Haden and Peppers never played together in an actual game. However, they were both with the Browns for most of the 2017 offseason. The Browns didn’t release Haden until the end of August, and he quickly signed with the Steelers.
Before that, however, he had plenty of opportunities to practice alongside Peppers. While that was a long time ago, Peppers has basically been the same player as Haden describes.
Peppers has played all over the secondary during his career. Mike Tomlin highlighted that as a reason why the Steelers are bringing him in. Also, he’s been a solid tackler, which should help him fill Elliott’s role.
Haden’s suggestion to use Peppers like Hilton is interesting, too. Hilton was an underrated piece of the Steelers’ defense from 2017-2020. He played slot corner, and he was great at blitzing from that position. Replacing his physical presence was difficult for the Steelers.
While it seems more likely that Peppers will play safety with the Steelers, it wouldn’t be surprising if he sees time at nickel. The Steelers already have one chess piece in their secondary in Ramsey. Depending on how quickly Peppers can pick up their defense, he could give the Steelers’ defense even more flexibility. He’s only just joined the team, though, so it’s unclear how much will be on his plate to start.
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