The Pittsburgh Steelers have arguably the best and deepest secondary they’ve had in decades, but injuries and contract uncertainty appear set to challenge that depth right away. And spreading the unit thin threatens one of the best aspects of the defense.

“Their secondary right now is a mess beyond the Joey Porter [Jr.] situation,” the P-G’s Ray Fittipaldo said Friday via 93.7 The Fan’s Pomp and Joe Show. “You’re gonna have to figure out if Rayshawn Jenkins, a 10-year vet who has bounced around the league, is gonna be their starting strong safety. Or they’re gonna have to decide are they gonna go back and push Jalen Ramsey back to safety where he played the second half of last season. That is not what their plan was. They wanted to use Jalen in a different way, but they’re really up against it now with this DeShon Elliott injury.”

Porter’s situation is still firmly up in the air with no new contract, though his limited return to practice is a good sign that he plans to play regardless of a new deal. But the Steelers are much better prepared to handle adversity at cornerback with Jamel Dean, Asante Samuel Jr., rookie standout Daylen Everette, and versatile veteran Brandin Echols.

The safety room is a different story.

The Steelers already didn’t have an ideal option at free safety before they surprisingly placed Elliott on IR for at least the first four weeks of the season. And Jaquan Brisker battled an injury throughout most of training camp. If Brisker misses any time while Elliott is out, The Steelers could find themselves up a creek without a paddle defensively.

Jenkins hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2023 and will turn 33 in the middle of the season. And Robert-Spears Jennings is a seventh-round rookie. No matter how much the Steelers like his potential, counting on him to play significant snaps may be a stretch.

That leaves one obvious solution, which is moving Ramsey back to safety, limiting his ability to impact the defense the way he needs to. Pittsburgh’s defensive staff has talked about “weaponizing” Ramsey. It’s hard to do that when he’s forced to be a center fielder for 70 percent of the snaps each game.

If the Steelers were going to add a veteran after roster cutdowns, they likely would’ve already done so to give themselves more time to acclimate.

The practice squad doesn’t offer many great options either. Sebastian Castro is the most experienced option, and he spent most of the last month in a walking boot. Juanyeh Thomas was reportedly going to sign, but that hasn’t happened yet. He did come in for a visit earlier this week. He might be their best bet as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.

The Steelers went down this road last year with their secondary, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why the defense underperformed relative to expectations.

Could they be headed down that same path again? It will be up to DC Patrick Graham to figure out a solution.