By: Jonathan Clark
SteelerNation.com
2019 was an eye-opening year for the Pittsburgh Steelers in more ways than one. As fans, we got to see just how valuable having a healthy Ben Roethlisberger on the field is for us, we witnessed a group of breakout young receivers try and pave their own path to stardom, but most importantly for me, all of Steeler Nation got to see the full potential of this defense. Our eyes were open to a whole new kind of success. Not only did the pass rush go off for yet another season, the Steelers put up the most sacks in the league and paired that with a spot on the top 5 in QB hits last year. Accompany the pass rush upfront with a surprising surge in pass coverage success and you find yourself with a top 5 overall defense in the NFL.
That sudden surge could very well be due to the fact that we brought in CB Steven Nelson on a three-year deal last off-season from the Kansas City Chiefs to pair with 3x Pro Bowl and 2x All-Pro CB, Joe Haden. While Haden got recognized in 2019 with a Pro Bowl appearance, Nelson’s mere appearance on the outside opposite Haden, coincided directly with the success of not only both individual players statistically, but overall as a team as well. We all know, having success as a team means more than one guy has to do their job well. Mike Hilton, who just recently signed his 2nd round tender, has been locking up the slot CB position for the last three years now and is probably one of the most underrated corners in the league. Having a lock down slot corner to cover the flats and run man coverage on the slot WR helps in more ways than statistics will ever show. Lucky for us fans, Pittsburgh was able to roll with a healthy CB group with Haden and Nelson covering the outside receivers and Hilton manning the slot, but are there names on our roster that have a spot to make an impact in the secondary faster than usual?
The answer could be in our 3rd round pick in 2018, CB Justin Layne out of Michigan State. Layne is an interesting story. He entered his freshman year in 2016 at MSU as a WR only to be converted to CB five games into the 2016 season. Standing at 6’3", Layne has a size advantage on his side for sure. While his scouting report coming out of college was hard on his natural skills at CB, his pure potential and upside at the position is what gave him a 3rd round grade. In his three years at MSU, Justin put up 150 total tackles (79 solo, 51 assisted) with 4.5 sacks and recording 3 interceptions. In his senior year, he recorded a career high 15 total passes broken up, good for the eight most ever in a single season at MSU and was tied for the most in the Big Ten conference. To me, this stat shows that he is only getting better with time and as Steeler fans, that is all that we can hope.
Layne’s biggest trait is his tremendous length and size. He is a bigger corner as far as most NFL standards are concerned, he stands at 6’3", and his arms were measured at 33 inches at the combine. He is a guy who is not afraid to pursuit runners with a vengeance, which at that size, can be effective coming downhill in the run game. And while Layne is not one to level a defender, he has shown to be solid at tackling runners in open space. His length is effective at the highest point of attack when the ball is in the air and has those “wide receiver hands” that teams all seem to covet in the secondary. His upside is one to not be overlooked. Layne is only in his 4th full year of learning the position in its entirety, in a whole new, more complicated defense than he had at MSU. Like we see most CB’s at this size, his downfall is going to be being able to keep up and/or getting beat on deep routes and with the NFL transitioning to more of a speed game. This could be the reason why he didn’t see much time on the field last season, but with a full season now under his belt, learning from a top 5 defensive secondary, we might get to see Layne in action, finally getting to see all of this upside talk, come to life.
What do you think of the Steelers CB position? Do you think Justin Layne will find time on the field this year? Comment below!
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