{"id":880302,"date":"2026-05-02T08:42:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/880302\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T08:42:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:42:39","slug":"did-not-wipe-the-deal-out-beat-writer-gives-clarity-on-delay-in-darnell-savage-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/880302\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Did Not Wipe The Deal Out’: Beat Writer Gives Clarity On Delay In Darnell Savage Signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of the new league year, the Steelers agreed to terms with a couple of free agent safeties. One was Jaquan Brisker, who quickly inked a one-year deal with the team. The other was Darnell Savage, but he\u2019s yet to officially sign with team, even as we enter the month of May. Earlier this week, The Athletic\u2019s Mike DeFabo gave some clarity as to why that hasn\u2019t happened yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cSavage, my understanding is that they came to an agreement. They basically realized they were looking for a depth safety. He kind of fit the price point, and the experience level they were looking for. There was some type of a medical issue that then delayed it. But it did not wipe the deal out,\u201d DeFabo said on SNR Drive<\/a>. \u201cBasically, the Steelers were like, \u2018Okay once this is not a problem anymore, then they\u2019re planning to sign it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

In early March<\/a>, the two sides reportedly agreed to a one-year deal that paid Savage just over $1 million. That\u2019s certainly cost-effective for a safety with seven years of experience, a few of which saw him play at a high level.<\/p>\n

Yet, injuries have hampered Darnell Savage over the last few seasons. They are part of the reason he\u2019s been on three different teams in the last two years, after spending his first five NFL seasons in Green Bay. He did play in 12 games last year as a depth option and remained healthy.<\/p>\n

But he dealt with several injuries in 2024, including a concussion and injuries to his ankle and quadriceps. In 2023, Savage dealt with injuries to his calf, as well as his chest and shoulder. He played a combined 23 games across those two seasons. It\u2019s unclear what the specific injury is that\u2019s holding the Steelers up now in regard to signing Savage.<\/p>\n

The Steelers did add to the position during the draft in Robert Spears-Jennings on Day 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could probably sneak that guy through to the practice squad pretty easily,\u201d DeFabo said. \u201cBut that is one new variable.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Steelers really want Savage in the building, they might be able to get away with stashing Spears-Jennings on the practice squad. The demand for him wasn\u2019t especially high as he slid until the seventh round of the draft. Elsewhere at safety the Steelers have Brisker, DeShon Elliott, Sebastian Castro, and potentially Jalen Ramsey, depending on how he moves around the defense.<\/p>\n

Darnell Savage can still do some nice things on the field. But he has been banged up a lot over the last couple of years. It sounds like the Steelers want to be a little more confident in his health before officially bringing him in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the beginning of the new league year, the Steelers agreed to terms with a couple of free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8512,7,8882,6,83453,691],"class_list":["post-880302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-darnell-savage","tag-football","tag-mike-defabo","tag-nfl","tag-snr-drive","tag-trending"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116504097162555244","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880302","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=880302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}