One door closes and another one opens – at least for this week.
That's the case at safety for the Steelers, who've lost starter DeShon Elliott for at least this week with a knee injury.
And the open door?
"We have Jabrill Peppers in the building," said Mike Tomlin. "We'll be signing Jabrill today and get him up to speed about what it is we'd ask him to do."
Tomlin said the imminent signing is in fact due to the injury to Elliott, who went down in the opener and was replaced by veteran Chuck Clark. Per Tomlin, Elliott was in the training room still during his press conference so the extent of his injury was not known at the time.
In Peppers, the Steelers will sign another defensive back with great versatility. In fact, in his final season at the University of Michigan, Peppers played 726 snaps on defense, 53 on offense, and 154 on special teams in garnering the Paul Hornung Award as college football's most versatile player. He also won the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year award, it's Linebacker of the Year award, and its Return Specialist of the Year award, the first Big Ten player to win all three. He competed at both linebacker and safety at the 2017 NFL Combine and posted the fastest 40 time – 4.54 – of all linebackers. He was drafted 25th overall by the Cleveland Browns in 2017.
"Highly familiar with him, not only from his time as a Cleveland Brown, but scouted him heavily when he came out of Michigan," Tomlin said. "He's a football player first, a positional player second. He's displayed position flexibility over the course of his career at either safety position, at run-down nickel. He's been a capable guy in the special teams space over the course of his career, covering kicks, returning punts. He's just a good, well-rounded football player. So glad to add and have him in the fold. We'll see how we divide the labor up as we get into the week. The ability to communicate and execute will obviously be a major component in how we divide that labor up and go from there."
Communication in the secondary was a concern of Tomlin's in the second half of the win over the Jets, after Elliott and Joey Porter left with injuries.
Peppers' experience and versatility will help in that regard. In eight NFL seasons, the 5-11, 217-pounder has played in 99 games with 85 starts. He's made 7 interceptions, recovered 7 fumbles, forced 6 fumbles, defensed 35 passes, had 5.5 sacks, and made 511 tackles.
Tomlin has watched Peppers perform up close. Peppers has played 7 games against the Steelers while with the Browns, New York Giants, and New England Patriots. He recovered 2 fumbles and intercepted 2 passes in those games.
Which play does Tomlin remember best?
"I did so much work on him in the draft. I think maybe his Michigan plays probably stand out more than his professional plays," Tomlin said. "He was just used in a real unique way that really highlighted his talents. He was a two-way player at one point. He played linebacker-like in some of their Bear structured fronts. He returned kicks. He was just a well-rounded football player in all areas of the game."
The addition should bolster a defense that Tomlin didn't think "whipped enough blocks and made enough tackles" against the Jets. The Steelers allowed 182 rushing yards (4.7 ypc.), 394 total net yards, and 32 points.
Of course, the Steelers rallied for a 34-32 win.
"I did like the ability to stay the course and have the emotions and the continuity to make the necessary plays down the stretch," Tomlin said. "The three-and-out prior to the last possession might've been the biggest possession. We went on a three-and-out on offense just prior to that. We had to punt the ball away. Our ability to go three-and-out right there particularly, with a third-down designed quarterback run to win that sequence and give our offense the ball back, was as big as the final, final drive.
"Liked the ability to stay the course and deliver in the weighty moments. You're not going to have a good team, and you're certainly not going to have a good defense, if they can't do so. I thought all three phases displayed that over the course of the game in a variety of ways."
Along with the addition of Peppers, Tomlin has other changes in mind.
"We certainly can do some more things schematically to help the guys, and will," he said, "but that will be an easier endeavor once we gain more experience, collectively, and some continuity in that space."
