Ok, the big question now is...

Can Cockrell play safety?

Just kidding. Sort of.

 

Nope, he's not physical enough

 

Cockrell's move to safety is way too late I am afraid. If anything, and it truly does pain me to say this as a huge fan of his coming out of Duke, Cockrell's days as a Steeler are more than likely over.


If the Training Camp notes by multiple sites and sources and his performance against the Falcons were not indicators enough, Tomlin's insistence to use Coty Sensabaugh on the first team defense during this preseason plus an additional poor showcasing against Indianapolis ultimatley complete the cycle.


Keep in mind that other promising players like Valentino Blake and Cortez Allen were also in Tomlin's crosshairs. One is still in the league while the other is out of it. Mike Mitchell was too at one point but he used that oppurtunity to prove himself; him being the commander of the secondary in addition to continue his employment his reward.


Not saying that Ross does not have a good strong mental make up to overcome this but his inability to follow through on the core concepts of man coverage may do him in here. That being said, there are two likely possibilites;


1.) Cockrell gets released as soon as either the end of tomorrow's game or Friday.


2.) Pittsburgh attempts to shop Cockrell in hopes of nabbing some more safety depth. If not depth, he can be shopped for a mid round pick at best.



Either way, this does signal the end of Ross Cockrell in Pittsburgh. When this event does unfold, expect me to do a wrtie up.

 

Cockrell no ...

Willie Gay ... maybe.


Haden is Vet through and through. I'm confident he can come in and in a few games and get the defense down. A new young safety might be another story. You want a well-oiled machine out there. Too many new guys and there will be chinks in the armor, at least early on.

 

Lets hope Cockrell gets packaged with one of our WR and we pick up a safety.

 

If the Steelers let Cockrell it will be the end of his NFL career unless a team needs depth due to injury. I say that because Ross played well last season but at the end of the year he was struggling in coverage and he just can't tackle and everyone saw it. He was hoping for a good contract during the off season and not a single team even looked at him, that right there tells you what the rest of the league thinks. I honestly believe he was playing with a chip on his shoulder when he got cut from Buffalo and I was on the bandwagon with how well he was playing but the end of last season and this seasons training camp and preseason has bee very telling, even AB was calling him out as being to easy to shake during practice.

 

While I can see the reasoning for it (his contractual status is probably the biggest here), I think it would be a terrible move to release Cockrell for a guy who's just joined the team and is coming off two pretty poor seasons.

Sticking two guys in (Haden and Sensabaugh) who have only just joined the team and showed nothing of note recently strikes me as one hell of a risk. Like, seventh layer of hell.

 

burns is still here thig. we will also watch sutton for the next game and week to follow. i'm not sure he is just destined to the slot. haden will take a week or two but we have options even without ross.

if ross cost less he may be kept. he was kind of thrown to the wolves and i think could have been a guy that still needed some refining. he could still end up as a decent corner in this league.

 

Common they signed Haden to get a bead on the great Browns

And Cockrell to safety? What?

 

Haden might be able to play safety next year

 

Gay could definitely do it. Could keep Cockrell then.

 

I posted on here last season Cockrell was the weak link on the defense. There were some posters who tried to defend his play , he can't cover and isn't a good tackler.

 

That would be interesting. I think he could do it. Not gonna be super rangy in his older age, but he's a sound tackler and good in both zone and man coverage. Maybe it's a possibility in the future

 

No reason to let go of Cockrell right away though.

 

Would you rather have Gay or Cockrell.

 

Gay is more versatile, he can play slot and outside but he's too old to play a lot of snaps. Cockrell can't play man coverage, they would probably keep him because he's younger.

 

I dont think either go anywhere actually. Gay is getting too old is right. I always stuck up for Gay when people on this forum were bashing him. He never was near as bad as people let on