Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs answers questions during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs answers questions during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The Steelers made it clear last week that they have a strong interest in this safety class at the NFL combine, where they spent at least seven of their 45 formal interviews for the week on the safety position.
Today’s college football and NFL schematics ask more of safeties than in previous years. Where safeties used to come into the NFL and play at a traditional strong safety role — closer to the line of scrimmage and more helpful against the run — or traditional free safety role — farther back in the defense and more helpful against the pass — many safeties have to get used to both roles if they want to be part of the defense.
After the Steelers cut Juan Thornhill and lost DeShon Elliott to injury for the season, Omar Khan scrambled for answers, as cornerback Jalen Ramsey switched to safety and the team traded for Kyle Dugger. The two became the team’s starting safeties for the second half of the season, but only Ramsey and Elliott are currently under contract with the tampering period of free agency to begin Monday.
That could tip the Steelers’ hand and expose the type of safety they might prefer to select in the NFL Draft. Both Ramsey and Elliott primarily played closer to the line of scrimmage and less so in a free safety role, as that’s neither of their specialties at defensive back. Ramsey played 450 out of his 1,182 snaps at free safety, while Elliott played 193 out of his 895 snaps at free safety in 2024 — his last full season as a starter.
That’s two players with less than 40% of their snaps in a free safety role, whereas in Minkah Fitzpatrick’s last year season with the Steelers — 2024 — he played free safety in 792 of his 1,193 snaps on defense for a rate of 66.4%. That suggests the Steelers could use a safety addition to their roster who specializes more as a free safety in deep coverage as part of their rotation.
Here’s a breakdown of the safeties we ranked in the Post-Gazette’s pre-combine top 100 prospects of the 2026 NFL Draft class, as well as the seven safeties the Steelers scheduled formal interviews with at the NFL combine, with their 40-yard dash time and how many of their defensive snaps they spent at free safety. Players who the Steelers interviewed are in bold:
2. Caleb Downs, Ohio State, N/A, 240 out of 680 snaps
32. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Toledo, 4.52 seconds, 198 out of 654 snaps
38. Dillon Thieneman, Oregon, 4.35 seconds, 247 out of 811 snaps
48. AJ Haulcy, LSU, 4.52 seconds, 484 out of 702 snaps
58. Bud Clark, TCU, 4.41 seconds, 160 out of 724 snaps
63. Kamari Ramsey, USC, 4.47 seconds, 93 out of 482 snaps
65. Zakee Wheatley, Penn State, N/A, 316 out of 657 snaps
89. Michael Taaffe, Texas, 4.50 seconds, 370 out of 600 snaps
92. VJ Payne, Kansas State, 4.40 seconds, 176 out of 722 snaps
Unranked. Genesis Smith, Arizona, N/A, 451 out of 770 snaps
Unranked. Bishop Fitzgerald, USC, 4.55 seconds, 303 out of 539 snaps
Out of the seven safety prospects who had formal interviews with the Steelers, Smith, Haulcy and Fitzgerald were the only players who played in a free safety role more than 50% of their snaps in 2025.
But that doesn’t guarantee that those would be the players who would be the best fits at free safety. In Minkah Fitzpatrick’s final collegiate season at Alabama — in 2017 — he only played 31 of his 736 snaps at free safety on defense. Fitzpatrick still didn’t move to free safety right away in the NFL as the Dolphins only deployed him at free safety for 166 of his 914 defensive snaps in 2018 before he played 809 of 1,046 defensive snaps at free safety in 2019 when he was traded to the Steelers.
This year’s consensus top safety prospect is Downs — just like Fitzpatrick was in his draft class. And he shares that versatility as a feature he sees as an asset.
“When I walked in as a freshman at Alabama I made a choice to try to make everything as even as possible,” Downs said Thursday at Indiana Convention Center. “A lot of guys had been there for two or three years before me. I was just trying to learn as much as possible. Whether that was going in for extra time to learn with the coaches or just studying on my own, I’ve just tried to be a sponge about everyone I’ve been around.”
Speed and explosiveness are always important to free safeties so that the prospect can not only run at a solid top speed but also be quick to change directions so they can cover ground quickly in their deep center fielding roles. Fitzpatrick clocked a 4.46-second time in the 40-yard dash but didn’t run in the 20-yard shuttle that normally determines that quick burst-to-speed trait.
Only three safety prospects participated in the 20-yard shuttle drill in this year’s combine and Smith posted the fastest time at 4.18 seconds. That would also be the fourth-fastest time of all safeties in the past four NFL combines. That could help Smith rise up draft boards, as he also displayed versatility in previous years before he was the Wildcats’ top free safety in 2025.
“In 2024 I got to show off my versatility,” Smith said. “They needed me to play nickel and strong safety. Then in 2025, I moved back to free safety. The way we run our defense, I still came down in the box a lot. So I showed a lot more to my game.”
But with an athletic and deep safety class this year, Smith has plenty of competition for other NFL teams to find their preferred deep safety options. That might let the Steelers wait to address the position until the third or fourth round of the NFL Draft.
First Published: March 5, 2026, 3:33 a.m.