Cockrell sighting

So, I saw Cockrell was playing for the Giants Sunday night, and I realized I never knew where he ended up. But I found it curious that he went from being a starting CB for Pgh to not even making the team. So, was he a free agent that they did not resign or was he under contract but they cut him?

If he was under contract I am surprised he would go from starter to not even making the team. If so, was he really worse than every CB they kept, including Sutton and Allen? Or, was it more of a "we know his ceiling and it ain't too high so we will keep young guys who may have a higher ceiling" kind of thing?

I never thought Ross was hot garbage, but I agree an upgrade needed pursued there. My guess is Sutton is probably worse than RC right now but could develop to be better, I hope.

On an aside I was watching a show where players were wired and an opposing WR told Ross, after a play, "Man, you are not only ugly, but you soft." Ross didn't offer a comeback that you could tell - he just kind of stared off and said nothing. I actually felt bad for him.

 

Traded him to the Giants shortly before the roster cut down deadline

 

Hmmmmmmmmm. Still somewhat odd considering how thin we are at CB. I guess they concluded he will never be that good.

 

At the time there was Haden, Burns And Hilton as starters, Gay for veteran leadership, Sensabaugh and Cam Sutton as well as Brian Allen showing he was just too good to risk trying to get him to the PS. So thats 7 with Ross making eight so they got a draft pick for Cockrell instead of releasing him outright and getting nothing while still maintaining good depth.

 

As per the PPG:

Cockrell became expendable when the Steelers signed former Browns corner Joe Haden Wednesday.

The Steelers are making the transition to playing more man coverage, and Cockrell is best suited to play zone.

 

he really seemed to regress this year for whatever reasons

 

Yeah he played poorly in the preseason games and apparently had a bad camp. Also as thorn mentioned, he was an outside corner only. They felt he offered no position flexibility and didn't play special teams. I think that's why Sensabaugh got the spot.

 

Plus Sensabaugh had more years on his contract. Cockrell was the odd one out when Haden arrived.

I thought it was a risky move at the time, seems to have paid off though.

 

I've seen a lot of the giants this year
Ross looks pretty much like he did here
He'll never be a #1 corner but he doesn't give up big plays and he makes his tackles

 

Surprised that you even saw him. When he was with us, he was never even in the broadcast view he was burned so bad.

 

He became expendable when the defense switched to man coverage..... cockrell is strictly a zone cb who is more comfortable covering an area and does not have the skill to backpeddle, turn with and shadow receivers not named aj green...... his only hope of staying with us would've been a switch to free safety, which is where I believe he will ultimately end up

 

thought we still played mostly zone but I could be wrong

 

We’re still playing mostly zone, just like every team in the NFL.

Just a more man than before, which should give us more flexibility down the stretch.

 

This is true. A lot of teams that play a lot of man with their corners play zone over the top with their safeties (like Seattle). It's very rare to man up all over the field for prolonged periods of time. When going against the best competition you're gonna get burned a lot more often that you'd think.

When it's all said and done though Haden is just a lot better than Ross. Hilton has looked really good too and Burns seems to be progressing well. We have good depth at the position too. One signing and a young guy stepping up made a once shaky secondary into one that is among the best in the league. Davis is starting to look nice the past few games and Mitchell has been consistent. I really like where our defense is right now