Steelers Fail To Imminently Reach Deal With Veteran Safety Who Impressed During Thursday's Workout For Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been extremely active under General Manager, Omar Khan in free agency throughout the 2023 offseason. It has not been a typical period for the organization as several outside names have been brought in to help the team. Not many people expected names like Patrick Peterson, Cole Holcomb, Isaac Seumalo, among many others, to end up in the Steel City. There is still over a month left until the new campaign begins and it shouldn't come as a surprise if the front office continues to bring in more competition. Khan and co. hosted former Tennessee Titans safety, Joshua Kalu on Thursday.

Kalu was signed by the Titans as an undrafted free agent prior to the 2018 season. He played at the University of Nebraska and worked his way into a more significant role each season with Tennessee. He didn't play during the 2021 season after the New York Giants signed him, yet, did not use his services. He experienced his first taste of starting in 2022 when he was re-signed by the Titans and got the nod in five games during his fourth official season. He is now on the free agent market and caught the Steelers attention.

Pittsburgh is in limbo at he moment when it comes to the safety position. Minkah Fitzpatrick has been out due to personal reasons and Damontae Kazee spent time in a walking boot with a foot injury. Fans are clearly hoping everything is okay off the field when it comes to Fitzpatrick and that Kazee will not be on the sideline for an extended period of time despite calling himself 'week to week.'

Kenny Robinson has showed out at training camp thus far and the idea of bringing someone else in may be to push him even further. Kalu brings the most value in regards to special teams. Aside from his rookie season, he had a mark of over 50% of special teams snaps played for the Titans in 2019, 2020 and 2022. It's hard, however, not to have a little more concern over Fitzpatrick and/or Kazee's situations if more talent is being brought in consistently.

Despite the visit, no agreement was reached, according Justin M of the Draft Network.

Steelers Not Afraid To Add More Competition Into The Fold

Robinson has been impressive thus far in terms of the safety position, but it's not the only area that Pittsburgh is looking to add to. Cory Trice Jr. went down with a season-ending injury and the team recently brought in cornerbacks, Montrae Boswell and Mac McCain III. It'll be interesting to see which players end up getting opportunities in camp and which ones aren't welcomed by the front office.

On top of all of the free agent activity, the team signed former Giants defensive back, Trenton Thompson on Wednesday. He only has one single game of NFL experience and bringing Kalu in for a visit may have been hinting at the fact that the organization isn't fully satisfied with their defensive back pipeline at the moment.

The biggest thing to takeaway with the movement throughout the back of the defense has to be concern for Fitzpatrick and Kazee. Fitzpatrick will be ready for the season even if he doesn't practice once throughout camp, but one has to be a little worried for him and hope everything is okay. Kazee, on the other hand, dealt with injuries in 2022 and the Steelers were hoping for a strong 2023 campaign from him. 

What are your thoughts on all of the activity going on when it comes to the Steelers secondary and the free agent wire? Let us know in the comments below!

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