{"id":864793,"date":"2026-04-12T12:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/864793\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:12:20","slug":"steelers-2026-pre-draft-moves-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/864793\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers 2026 Pre-Draft Moves \u2013 Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are most of the way through the first part of the offseason\u00a0leading up to the draft<\/a>. Before we get there, we\u2019re going to\u00a0take stock of how the roster has evolved<\/a>\u00a0over the past several weeks. Position by position, we\u2019ll break down who\u2019s coming and going and what\u2019s next for those rookies and\u00a0those already here.<\/p>\n

Position: Safety<\/p>\n

Total Positional Figure: 6<\/p>\n

Offseason Additions: 2<\/p>\n

Offseason Deletions: 4<\/p>\n

Players Retained: <\/p>\n

DeShon Elliott: DeShon Elliott returns as one of the Steelers\u2019 starting safety duo this year, but who will join him, and when? After missing most of last season due to a season-ending injury, can he return to his former level of play?<\/p>\n

Jalen Ramsey: How much safety will Jalen Ramsey play for the Steelers next season? After signing Jaquan Brisker, that\u2019s a legitimate question. He may settle into the slot, but for now, he needs to be included in this discussion.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Castro: A rookie college free agent in 2025, Sebastian Castro gives the Steelers a bigger-bodied safety. But more realistically, he may be the replacement for Miles Killebrew on special teams.<\/p>\n

Jack Henderson: Undrafted last year, the Steelers signed Henderson as a safety to their practice squad in October. They initially signed him to replace Sebastian Castro, who signed with the Buccaneers off their practice squad. He lasted only a few weeks, but they circled back and re-signed him at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Players Added: <\/p>\n

Jaquan Brisker: The Steelers added starting safety Jaquan Brisker in free agency, but what will his role be? Carrying concussion worries with him, he is coming off a year in which he played 17 games. If that is behind him, he could be a relatively cheap steal for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Darnell Savage: Not technically signed yet as of this writing, reports have connected the veteran safety to the Steelers on an \u201cagreed to terms\u201d basis. Assuming he does sign, he just adds veteran depth and a slight upgrade over last season\u2019s depth.<\/p>\n

Players Deleted:<\/p>\n

Kyle Dugger: Needing a safety, the Steelers traded for Dugger last year. Though he intercepted some passes, Pittsburgh felt it could do better. He is now with the Bengals and hoping to revive his career.<\/p>\n

Miles Killebrew: After spending half a decade as a special teams ace, Killebrew followed his special teams coordinator in free agency to Tampa Bay. He missed most of the season with a knee injury, but now they need a new special teams captain.<\/p>\n

Chuck Clark: One of several former starting safety depth pieces the Steelers signed last year, Clark played a surprising amount of snaps in 2025. He had his ups and downs, making some plays and giving up others. Pittsburgh\u2019s new coaching staff showed no interest, however, in a reunion.<\/p>\n

Jabrill Peppers: A starting safety for the Patriots, Peppers was let go at the start of the year, and the Steelers signed him after Week 1. But he never played much, serving as depth and instead carving out a role on special teams.<\/p>\n

Notes And Draft Outlook:<\/p>\n

Maybe view safety as the top option for the Steelers to address in the first round, or at least one of the top. Recently bringing in Emmanuel McNeil-Warren for a pre-draft visit, it would appear they feel the same way. There are a few first-round-worthy safeties, maybe even one to trade up for.<\/p>\n

This is a concern more for the future, however. For this season, at least, the Steelers are set at safety with Elliott, Ramsey, and Brisker. Savage would be a strong depth piece, and Castro is a developmental player. But if you can add the next Kyle Hamilton, with Ramsey\u2019s age and Elliott and Brisker\u2019s injury histories, you do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers are most of the way through the first part of the offseason\u00a0leading up to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4955,9036,8512,3455,7,7899,56745,1815,4423,7882,1720,6,520,57,2360,4068,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-864793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-chuck-clark","10":"tag-darnell-savage","11":"tag-deshon-elliott","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jabrill-peppers","14":"tag-jack-henderson","15":"tag-jalen-ramsey","16":"tag-jaquan-brisker","17":"tag-kyle-dugger","18":"tag-miles-killebrew","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-pittsburgh","21":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","22":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","23":"tag-sebastian-castro","24":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116391677020684168","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}