NFL Draft primer: With plenty of vets on board, Steelers could wait to add safety depth

As certain as a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day, the Steelers could count on Terrell Edmunds lining up at strong safety each Sunday over the past five football seasons.

The 2018 first-round pick missed just three of a possible 82 regular-season games, and he made 75 starts in the Steelers secondary, an average of 15 per year.

With Edmunds leaving the organization to take a one-year contract with the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers must look elsewhere for a starter in 2023.

No shortage of candidates can be found on the roster to line up in the secondary with three-time All-Pro free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Steelers re-signed Damontae Kazee, who became a useful option at safety in subpackages in the second half of last season. They also gave a two-year deal to seven-year vet and former Pro Bowl pick Keanu Neal, who has experience at both safety spots.

The Steelers also signed cornerback Patrick Peterson, who said he is open to moving around in the secondary. Counting special teams members who dabble at safety and reserve/futures players, the Steelers have 10 potential safeties on their offseason roster.

Still, they could be in the market to add to their numbers when the NFL Draft rolls around later this week. But given the lack of numbers in this year’s class — and their positional needs at tackle, defensive line and cornerback — the Steelers might not select a safety until the third day of the draft.

The only safeties the Steelers hosted for top-30 visits are later-round prospects Tanner Ingle of N.C. State and Cal’s Daniel Scott.

Waiting might not be such a bad thing.

“I think this has been a below-average safety class by far,” said former Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik, a Sirius/XM NFL analyst.

Added NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah: “I don’t think it’s a great group.”

In 2022, three safeties were taken in the first round, including Kyle Hamilton by the Baltimore Ravens at No. 14. Alabama’s Brian Branch is the only borderline first-round candidate, and he comes with a positional asterisk. Although listed as a safety — and compared to former Crimson Tide star Fitzpatrick by NFL.com — the 6-foot, 190-pound junior is projected to play nickel corner in the pros.

“You’ve got to find the guys that can run around in space and cover ground, and I think that’s the difference,” Dominik said, drawing comparisons to big-hitting safeties. “It’s all about being an athlete. … The Brian Branches of the world still pull first-round grades because they can do that. They have the skill set to get around.”

After Branch, though, it gets dicey at safety.

Branch aside, Jeremiah doesn’t have one safety listed in his overall top 50 prospects. Pro Football Focus has the second-best safety prospect — Texas A&M’s Antonio Johnson — rated No. 64 overall.

“There is a drop-off after you get through Brian Branch,” Dominik said, “which is great for Brian Branch’s sake, but maybe not great for the teams that are dying for safeties. I do think there are guys in the middle that are intriguing. Again, you’re talking about third, fourth rounds.”

The Steelers hold the No. 80 overall pick with their third-round selection. Their fourth-round pick falls No. 120 overall. After that, they don’t pick again until the seventh round, when they have two selections.

Pro Football Focus, for its lukewarm reception at the top end of the class, has five safeties listed between Texas A&M’s Johnson and the No. 82 prospect in its recent safety rankings.

A familiar middle-round prospect is Penn State’s Ji’Ayir Brown, a 5-11, 203-pound senior who led the Nittany Lions with 74 tackles. He also had seven tackles for loss, 4 1/2 sacks and four interceptions before becoming the defensive MVP of the Rose Bowl.

“Watch a few minutes of Brown’s tape, and you’ll be wowed by his instincts and recognition skills,” ESPN analyst Todd McShay said. “I think he could move around the defense and contribute as a rookie.”

Jeremiah is bullish on Pitt’s Brandon Hill, a 5-11, 193-pound redshirt junior. He listed Hill as his seventh-rated safety on his latest draft board and called him an “intriguing” prospect and “somebody in a safety class that’s not great. … I think he will factor in somewhere on Day 3.”