Steelers Bring Back CB Cameron Sutton
JUNE 7: Sutton will indeed come back to Pittsburgh for the league minimum. His $1.21MM base salary matches Russell Wilson‘s, though KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson notes the veteran cornerback will count $985K against the Steelers’ cap. Unlike Wilson, the Steelers did not guarantee Sutton any money, per OverTheCap.
JUNE 5: The Steelers already met with Cameron Sutton in the wake of his Lions release. The parties are huddling up again Wednesday, and a reunion will come to pass. Sutton is expected to rejoin the Steelers, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.
A one-year contract worth the veteran minimum is the anticipated outcome here, Dulac adds. This would be a major step back for a player who was tied to an $11MM-per-year deal entering the offseason, but a domestic violence arrest brought a quick end to Sutton’s Detroit tenure. Sutton’s Pittsburgh return is indeed a go, with NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero confirming the sides have another deal in place.
A Steelers draft choice who played six seasons with the team, Sutton spent one season with the Lions. Several weeks after Detroit designated the veteran starter as a post-June 1 cut, Pittsburgh will sign off on another agreement. The initial Steelers-Sutton meeting occurred back in April, and although a suspension is expected in connection with Sutton’s arrest on a domestic battery by strangulation charge, the Mike Tomlin-Omar Khan tandem is comfortable greenlighting a reunion.
An early-March arrest warrant went out for Sutton, but the seven-year veteran did not turn himself in for more than three weeks. Sutton, 29, had been seen at the Lions’ facility between the warrant emerging and his eventual arrest. The Lions moved on from Sutton’s three-year, $33MM deal a day after the report of the warrant surfaced.
Police responded to a call pertaining to an alleged domestic incident in Lutz, Florida. Sutton fled the scene after this alleged battery; evidence of wounds was present on the woman’s body. Sutton owns a home in Pinellas County, Florida. It is not known if Sutton will be suspended this season, but that seems likely. Under the NFL’s personal conduct policy, players do not need to be convicted of crimes to receive NFL bans.
This certainly produces an interesting addition for the Steelers, who used Sutton as their No. 1 corner for a stretch earlier this decade. Sutton played well on the two-year, $9MM deal he signed in 2021, leading to the Lions’ pricier commitment last year. Sutton will have a chance to carve out a role in a CB contingent headed by 2023 second-round pick Joey Porter Jr. and recent trade acquisition Donte Jackson. Sutton started 39 games for the Steelers from 2017-22; 31 of those starts came between the 2021 and ’22 seasons.
The Steelers were believed to be interested in a third Sutton contract in 2023, but the team’s offer did not approach where the Lions went in free agency. Pittsburgh instead opted for a cheaper deal with Patrick Peterson, whom the team released earlier this offseason, and the Porter pick at No. 32 overall. Another Peterson deal had not been ruled out previously, but this Sutton signing would stand to reduce the chances the likely Hall of Famer returns.
Sutton is coming off a down season in Detroit. Pro Football Focus ranked the 5-foot-11 cover man 104th (out of 127 regulars) at the position in 2023, and the Lions have gone through with an overhaul at the position. Under Tomlin and DC Teryl Austin in 2022, however, Sutton finished in the top five (among corners) in passer rating allowed as the closest defender, per Next Gen Stats; he ended that season with a career-high 15 passes defensed. The Steelers will see if Sutton can rebound back in their system.
How the Steelers configure their reshaped CB group will be interesting. Although Sutton has experience in the slot, he has primarily been a boundary defender in recent years. The Steelers waited until Round 6 (Ryan Watts) to draft a corner this year. Via offset language, this agreement stands to cut into the dead money the Lions will see over the next two offseasons. Detroit took on $8.72MM in Sutton dead money this offseason.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/5/24
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
- Released from IR via injury settlement: OL Ilm Manning
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: S Brady Breeze
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Waived/injured: WR David White
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: TE Izaiah Gathings
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Cody Thompson
White suffered a torn ACL during one of the Jaguars’ practices last week, Doug Pederson said recently. The Jags signed White as a UDFA following a career at Western Carolina. White will revert to the Jags’ IR list if unclaimed, with this process generally leading to an injury settlement that moves the player off the team’s roster. White was among five UDFAs receivers the Jags signed this year.
A sixth-round Titans draftee back in 2021, Breeze was most recently with the Texans. He spent the second half of last season on Houston’s practice squad, staying on the AFC South champions’ 16-man unit until season’s end. No reserve/futures contract emerged for the Oregon alum, however. Breeze has played in 11 career games, splitting his career in Tennessee and Detroit.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/4/24
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Claimed off waivers (from Patriots): OL Andrew Stueber
- Waived: WR JaQuae Jackson
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: LB Shayne Simon
- Waived/injured: OL Tommy Doyle
Cleveland Browns
- Waived: K Lucas Havrisik
Houston Texans
- Waived from IR (with injury settlement): DE Marcus Haynes
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: S Grayland Arnold
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived: DL Raymond Johnson III
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on reserve/retired list: C Ryan Jensen
Washington Commanders
- Signed: K Ramiz Ahmed
After missing most of the past two seasons due to a knee injury, Ryan Jensen announced back in February that he was going to retire. The Buccaneers made the move official today, although that won’t be the end of their cap commitment to the offensive lineman. As Greg Auman of FOX Sports notes, since Jensen’s contract was pro-rated, the Buccaneers will be hit with a combined $16.6MM in dead cap over the next two seasons.
The Browns cleared up their depth chart a bit by cutting kicker Lucas Havrisik, leaving the organization with Dustin Hopkins and Cade York to compete for the starting job. Havrisik got into nine games with the Rams last season, connecting on 15 of his 20 field goal tries and 19 of his 22 extra points. In other kicker moves, the Commanders have added Ramiz Ahmed in the wake of the Brandon McManus release.
AFC Staff Updates: Shazier, Ravens, Chiefs
Patrick Queen has arrived in Pittsburgh and the Steelers are hoping that he will fill the role as a top three-down, off-ball linebacker that the defense has lacked since the medical retirement of Ryan Shazier. While Shazier can’t put on the pads and join Queen out there, the Steelers may be getting the next best thing, as Shazier has been assisting the coaching staff during the first two weeks of organized team activities, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic.
Shazier isn’t working with the linebackers right now, as you may rightfully assume. The former linebacker is reportedly helping out running backs coach Eddie Faulkner in OTAs. Still, Shazier will be around for Queen to pick his mind, and after seeing how much Queen’s game improved with the arrival of a leader like Roquan Smith in Baltimore, having Shazier on the sideline may be just what Queen needs as he regains an LB1 role.
Here are a few other staff updates from around the AFC, starting with a couple of departures in Queen’s old clubhouse:
- The Ravens are saying goodbye to three longtime staffers from their front office this offseason. The team announced today that senior advisor to the general manager Pat Moriarty, senior player personnel executive Vincent Newsome, and senior video operations advisor Jon Dube are all transitioning out of their roles. Moriarty has been with the franchise since they were the Browns in 1994. He has long been key in the team’s management of their salary cap. Newsome, a former NFL safety, worked as a high-profile pro scouting executive, analyzing other rosters and keeping a close eye on the waiver wire. The team tabs him as being instrumental in the acquisition of such key veterans in the past as Matt Birk, Anquan Boldin, Elvis Dumervil, Steve Smith, and Eric Weddle.
- Lastly, the Chiefs recently promoted Will Christopherson, per Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Christopherson had been working as an NFS scout since joining Kansas City in 2022. He’ll now work as an area scout, patrolling the mid-Atlantic region.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/3/24
Monday’s minor NFL moves:
New England Patriots
- Signed: WR David Wallis
- Waived: OL Andrew Stueber
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: WR Jaray Jenkins
- Waived (with injury designation): CB Luq Barcoo
The Patriots are letting go of 2022 seventh-round pick Stueber. In two years with the team, the Michigan-product has yet to appear in an NFL contest, spending his rookie season on the reserve/non-football injury list and his sophomore campaign on the practice squad. He’s replaced by Wallis, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Randolph-Macon College. Wallis had attended New England’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis and left without a deal, but he’ll get an opportunity now. In 42 games at the Division III level, Wallis caught 146 balls for 3,144 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Jenkins is an undrafted free agent from last offseason. Coming out of LSU, he signed with the Jaguars but was released from IR at the start of the season. He’ll now have a chance to make a depth impact in a Steelers receiving corps with question marks behind the presumed starters. He takes the spot of Barcoo, who hasn’t appeared in an NFL contest since 2020.
Steelers Sign Round 1 T Troy Fautanu
Using a first-round pick on a tackle for the second straight year, the Steelers have revamped their situation at this position. The more recent of the two investments, No. 20 overall pick Troy Fautanu, is now signed.
The Steelers agreed to terms with Fautanu on Monday, locking him down through the 2027 season. This contract, as all first-rounders’ do, includes a fifth-year option that will need to be exercised or declined by May 2027. Fautanu joins Broderick Jones as Pittsburgh’s hopeful long-term tackle answers.
Rumors about Pittsburgh using Fautanu at right tackle, and sliding Jones to the left side have emerged, but the team could also opt to bring the Washington product along slowly — as it did Jones in 2023. The team still rosters three-year LT starter Dan Moore, though he has struggled at points over the course of his rookie deal. One season remains on Moore’s rookie contract, pointing to a near-future reality in which the Steelers roll out a Jones-Fautanu tandem.
The Steelers viewed Fautanu as a superior prospect to Jones and looked into trade-up avenues, but the recent left tackle starter for the national championship game-bound Huskies dropped to No. 20 in a tackle-rich draft. Playing left tackle opposite eventual second-round Ravens draftee Roger Rosengarten, Fautanu became a high-end tackle prospect during his Washington stay. The 6-foot-4, 317-pound blocker earned first-team All-Pac-12 acclaim while blocking for Michael Penix Jr.
It will be interesting to see how Pittsburgh arranges its blockers come Week 1. The team kept Jones on the bench behind Moore and then-RT Chukwuma Okorafor to start last season, but the Georgia prospect took over on the right side midway through. The Steelers cut Okorafor earlier this offseason; he is now competing for the Patriots’ LT post. One of the team’s first-round tackle investments will be a right tackle in the not-too-distant future, however, as Moore’s time in Pittsburgh appears to be winding down.
Should Fautanu supplant Moore as a starter, this season will mark a shift for a Steelers team that has used midlevel investments at tackle for many years. Jones represented the first Round 1 tackle to see extended time with the Steelers since Wayne Gandy in 2002. The team has used an array of blockers chosen outside the first round, most recently slotting the likes of Moore (fourth round), Okorafor (third round) and UDFA Alejandro Villanueva into its lineup. The Steelers will aim for a higher ceiling with Jones and Fautanu.
Latest On Steelers’ Depth At OLB
Outside linebacker is not a position of need for the Steelers. Star pass rusher T.J. Watt led the NFL last year with 19.0 sacks, and though the team’s other starter Alex Highsmith only notched seven last year, he showed what he’s capable of with a 14.5-sack campaign in 2022. Those two are going to be on the field a majority of the time, but after watching Watt miss the playoffs last year and seeing an aged Markus Golden depart in free agency, Pittsburgh has made a number of offseason moves to solidify their depth at the position. 
Last year’s rookie fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin, Nick Herbig, is the only other edge rusher returning from last year’s roster. According to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, Herbig is getting first dibs at the OLB3-role in 2024. In his first season of NFL play, Herbig saw less than a quarter of the snaps that Watt and Highsmith did but was up there in playing time with Golden. Despite the limited snaps, Herbig made the most of his time on the field, logging 27 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, three quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.
That means this year’s rookie third-round pick, NC State’s Payton Wilson, will not be the first outside linebacker off the bench in his first season. Wilson also wasn’t necessarily known as a pass rusher in Raleigh, so it might just mean that Herbig and Wilson will sport different roles in 2024. Herbig may be the first player off the bench in pass rushing situations, and Wilson may be the first guy in during rushing or drop back scenarios. Wilson is on the roster as an outside linebacker for the Steelers as Patrick Queen, Cole Holcomb, and Elandon Roberts patrol the middle. Wilson was disruptive in college, sporting 48.0 tackles for loss to his name, but only logged 15.0 sacks in that time. His versatility as a linebacker with seven career interceptions and 20 passes defensed in college mean that Wilson and Herbig could both be utilized off the bench equally but in very different situations.
Another offseason addition the team made was the claiming of former division-rival Jeremiah Moon off of waivers. A former undrafted player from Florida, Moon spent his entire rookie season on the practice squad for the Ravens but made one start in eight game appearances in 2023. Like Wilson, Moon has never been much of a pass rusher but was an effective tackler during his time in Gainesville.
Joining the position room as rookies alongside Wilson are undrafted signees Julius Welschof and Jacoby Windmon. Windmon, who saw time in college at UNLV and Michigan State, is more in the mold of Wilson and Moon. Welschof, who attended school at Michigan and Charlotte, is a former defensive lineman, though he wasn’t much of an established pass rusher in college.
While Golden only played 70 more snaps in the regular season than Herbig in 2023, when Watt was injured in the playoffs, that OLB3 role became huge. With Watt being no stranger to injury over the past two seasons, who will man that role going forward is an important distinction. As of right now, Herbig is getting the first opportunity to earn that role. He’ll likely hold onto that responsibility as the top pass rusher off the bench while Moon and the rookies fill more versatile roles on the defense in 2024.
J.J. Watt Comeback Pledge Includes Steelers
J.J. Watt has made it known he considers a comeback a longshot scenario, but the future Hall of Famer continues to let DeMeco Ryans know he is available if needed. This offer appears to extend to one other team as well.
Watt reaffirmed his pledge to Ryans about rejoining the Texans in an emergency circumstance, via The Athletic’s Dan Pompei, indicating he would “absolutely” return for a 13th season if his former Texans teammate asked (subscription required). Watt’s pledge about coming out of retirement — for an in-season return — would also include the Steelers, Pompei adds in an expansive Ryans profile.
Team No. 2 on Watt’s “in case of emergency” list is unsurprising, seeing as the Steelers employ another Watt on a Hall of Fame path. J.J. Watt considered the Steelers during his free agency in 2021, but he did not want to potentially take money away from his younger brother. Months after J.J. Watt’s two-year, $28MM Cardinals commitment, T.J. Watt landed his extension. The Steelers featured a two-Watt combo for three seasons, with Derek Watt joining T.J., but J.J. closed out his career with the Cards.
The Steelers have Cameron Heyward going into his 14th season with the team, though this longtime partnership now includes a hiccup on the contract front. Heyward’s current contract runs through 2024. The team also has Larry Ogunjobi, DeMarvin Leal and the recently signed Dean Lowry on the payroll. Roster construction would not stand to matter too much here, as J.J. Watt has made it clear it would take a setback changing the Texans’ outlook to come back. That presumably applies to the Steelers as well.
Watt, who turned 35 this offseason, said earlier this month his comeback pledge will expire after the 2024 season. The likely 2028 Canton inductee retired months after a heart scare, but he remained available for the Cardinals and closed the 2022 season strong. Watt finished with 12.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. The latter number matches his most since a stratospheric early-career stretch that remain unapproached; this century’s single-season TFL list still starts with three Watt seasons. Although injuries dogged the all-time great in the seasons following his third Defensive Player of the Year slate, Watt remains the only player in the sack era (1982-present) with two 20-plus-sack seasons. A comeback in a part-time role would certainly be interesting.
The All-Decade-teamer remains with CBS, but this comeback storyline persists. Injuries affecting the Houston or Pittsburgh D-line depth charts will be worth monitoring as the season unfolds.
Front Office Updates: White, Pats, Steelers
Former Bears assistant director of pro scouting Chris White has reportedly been removed from the team’s website, per Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. White had been promoted to the role two years ago after five years as a pro scout for the team.
While nothing official has been announced yet, rumors have it that White is heading to Washington, where he’ll serve as the Commanders‘ new director of pro scouting. White would essentially be filling the role vacated by former director of pro personnel Chris Polian, who is an advisor now in Cleveland.
Here are a couple of other rumors in NFL front offices from around the league:
- Stratton also tells us that the Patriots are adding a new member to their pro scouting staff in Bob Kronenberg. Kronenberg has had an interesting career path following the end of his playing career in the Arena Football League. Kronenberg spent five games as head coach of the former AFL’s Georgia Force in 2004. Eight years later, he joined the Falcons’ front office as a pro scout. After six years working in the team’s scouting department, Kronenberg accepted a role as Atlanta’s assistant offensive line coach, a role he’s held since 2019. Kronenberg will now find his way back to the front office in New England.
- Lastly, the Steelers are reportedly bringing on Jim Noel as a new area scout, according to Stratton. Noel has plenty of NFL experience, starting as a scouting intern for the Chiefs in 2015 and working his way up to pro scout after two years. He then spent three years as the northeast area scout for the Browns before heading to the collegiate ranks to work recruiting staff roles at Army and Nebraska.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/29/24
Wednesday’s minor transactions:
Houston Texans
- Reverted to IR: DE Marcus Haynes
New York Jets
- Waived (with injury designation): RB Markese Stepp
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: TE Izaiah Gathings