The Pittsburgh Steelers were far from the busiest team during the first week of free agency, but their roster is certainly much deeper than it was a week ago. In the span of a handful of days, the Steelers managed to give themselves a formidable receiver duo, some backfield and secondary depth in the backfield and some in the trenches as well.
However, the defensive moves are what stand out the most to Gregg Rosenthal. He’s a big fan of the acquisitions Pittsburgh made on that side of the ball.
“I really like their free agency. Because I kind of forgot, Jaquan Brisker, Darnell Savage and Sebastian Joseph-Day, are all defensive, solid players,” Rosenthal said Monday on his NFL Daily podcast. “They are an old team, that somehow got older in free agency, which is hard to do. They have a type. Sebastian Joseph-Day fits as well.”
Jaquan Brisker and Darnell Savage are both cheap, solid depth options at safety. And each plays the run well.
That’s the role Savage serves best. He’s still pretty athletic and has a lot of experience, which helps him in the secondary. However, he’s just not great in coverage, allowing a 126.0 passer rating while playing for three teams in 2025. But he can still play the run when he’s able to fly downhill and be aggressive.
Brisker may hold a bigger role, but he’s still coming on a relatively cheap one-year deal as well. He’s already made 342 tackles during his four-year career, and he has a career missed-tackle rate of just 7.3-percent. He’s versatile in his alignment, but his best use might be in the box where he’s able to play with an edge against the run. With others at safety, like DeShon Elliott and potentially Jalen Ramsey, he’ll be a nice depth player as well.
Along the defensive line, Sebastian Joseph-Day can play the run as well. He’s also versatile, willing to play pretty much anywhere across the line. He’s strong, has gap discipline, and is simply hard to move out of the way. It’s not too expensive of a deal, and Joseph-Day will be a solid option behind Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton and Derrick Harmon.
These aren’t even some of the bigger moves the Steelers made in free agency. They also traded for Michael Pittman Jr., and signed Jamel Dean and Rico Dowdle. Yet sometimes the depth moves are what really elevate a team. And that’s an area where Rosenthal thinks the Steelers did well.
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