The Pittsburgh Steelers have been struggling with their safety depth all season long. Jaquan Brisker has been dealing with a nagging injury since training camp, and DeShon Elliott was on Injured Reserve (IR) until Week 6. They signed Rayshawn Jenkins as depth, but he did not play well and eventually got released. As the two starters continue to get healthier, the hope is that the back end of the defense becomes more stable, which would allow the cornerbacks to be a bit more aggressive while the unit runs more blitzes.
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Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker (3) breaks up a pass during the fourth quarter of a game against the Indianapolis Colts at Acrisure Stadium in Week 5.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy is starting to be pleased with the stability at the safety position, especially Brisker. During a post-practice interview, the coach spoke about what he's seen from the 2026 free agent signing in recent weeks.
"Availability is the most important ability," McCarthy said. "I think you see him more and more comfortable for what we ask him to do, and I think some of the calls reflect that. He has big playability too; he's been steady."
It's definitely hard to get comfortable with a defense when you're constantly dealing with injury and unable to practice and play as much as normal. Recently, Brisker has been getting healthier, which led to him getting more snaps. As the media scrum mentioned, he played all but one snap in the Week 7 contest in Paris, France. That should be a great sign of things to come, especially with Elliott getting healthy as well.
While there are still some concerns about the constant soft zone usage, Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham has been calling games different than he did early on. He's running more disguised coverages and blitzes from all over the place. Having faith that Brisker will hold down the fort with all these moving pieces helps with that a lot, as McCarthy mentioned with the calls reflecting the safety's comfortability.
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New Pittsburgh Steelers veteran safety Jaquan Brisker during a regular season matchup against the Cleveland Browns in Week 4 of October 2026.
With Elliott continuing to get healthy and conditioned as well, that should only give Graham more trust in his safeties, leading to even more unique play-calls, instead of spamming the same few plays constantly. After the bye week, this safety tandem may finally be able to play how the Steelers believed they would when Brisker was signed all the way back in March.
It helps that Brisker has posted a career-best 43.8% completion percentage against through the first seven games. He has also not allowed a touchdown yet. With his improving health and comfort, it will be easier for Graham to send Brisker closer to the line of scrimmage and make these tackles. It's unclear just how much those issues have affected his tackling, but it likely has something to do with the 13.7% missed tackle rate.
Steelers Need To Keep Focusing On Improving The Pass Defense
The Steelers have struggled all season long to contain opposing quarterbacks. What they have done great in recent weeks is shut down the run game. When Aaron Rodgers has more rushing yards on one play than anyone on the other team, it's clear that the front seven is doing its job and then some. Even the rookies have been able to do their job in limited reps and not let even the best backs to burn them constantly.
With the run game not being a reliable option for other teams, they have resorted to trying to move the ball with the pass game, and that has been more effective than the Steelers would hope. Throughout the season, it hasn't been uncommon to see these quarterbacks complete these chunk plays and get into Pittsburgh territory. Quick passes underneath are a good way to beat soft zone, and if the offensive line holds up, deep passes become somewhat easy too.
What do you think about Brisker getting more comfortable with the Steelers' defense as his health improves? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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