{"id":943518,"date":"2026-07-12T12:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T12:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/943518\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T12:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T12:06:17","slug":"steelers-training-camp-battles-the-safety-dance-where-nobodys-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/943518\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Training Camp Battles \u2014 The Safety Dance Where Nobody’s Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

With\u00a0Steelers training camp<\/a> just around the corner, we turn our focus to the roster and the battles ahead of us<\/a> over the summer. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at some of the roster battles that we expect to see unfold over the course of training camp as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for the start of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

This year, the Steelers seem to have most of their major battles settled before training camp. Outside of the offensive line, the rest of the starting lineup seems to be in order. There are other contributing roles to sort out, of course, like the third wide receiver. But perhaps more than in most recent years, this is more jockeying for roles and depth, and not who is starting.<\/p>\n

Position: Safety<\/p>\n

Up for Grabs: Depth\/Top Backup<\/p>\n

In the Mix: Darnell Savage, Sebastian Castro, Robert Spears-Jennings<\/p>\n

Jalen Ramsey complicates this question as he may be the top backup regardless of how the Steelers\u2019 training camp safety battles unfold. They have their starters in DeShon Elliott, returning from injury, and free-agent addition Jaquan Brisker. But with the minimal depth they have behind those two, they have to be at least somewhat trepidatious.<\/p>\n

If the Steelers are one snap away from Darnell Savage or Robert Spears-Jennings starting, it better be the product of some intense training camp battles. Sebastian Castro is, of course, also in the mix. A fan favorite as a rookie college free agent last year, he carved out a niche on special teams. But he\u2019s not just competing for advancement; he\u2019s still competing for a job at all.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how many jobs are available\u2014it could be anywhere between one and three. At least one of the trio should make the Steelers\u2019 roster, but how the training camp battles shake out could dictate that they carry more. And special teams will be a key factor, especially for the younger players. They may even force Savage off the roster, provided they show some defensive value.<\/p>\n

Even if Jalen Ramsey would start in the event of an injury to a starting safety, this is still an important training camp battle for the Steelers. Last season, they relied on a stockpiling of aging veterans at safety. After trading Minkah Fitzpatrick, they were left with Juan Thornhill, Chuck Clark, and Jabrill Peppers. They later added Kyle Dugger, who is now with the Bengals.<\/p>\n

The Steelers could have re-signed any of them, but there\u2019s a reason they won\u2019t attend training camp this year. Pittsburgh wanted to move on\u2014although Savage seems to fit right into that group, if not a worse one. The alternatives are a second-year undrafted guy and a rookie seventh-round pick. Don\u2019t be surprised if they throw another name into the mix by the time they\u2019re done in Latrobe. And if they do, none of them may make\u00a0the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With\u00a0Steelers training camp just around the corner, we turn our focus to the roster and the battles ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[8512,7,6,520,57,2360,44626,4068,426],"class_list":["post-943518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-darnell-savage","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-robert-spears-jennings","tag-sebastian-castro","tag-steelers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116906923318547487","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943518","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=943518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}