Quarterly grades, All starters, plus key subs that play enough snaps to mention.

[Litos]

As soon as Burns gets up to #3, heck yes Cockrell is #3. Agreed?

and who the hell is #2 then? William Gay is #1 but he won't be defending the AJ Green's of the league, he's way better in the short zone as he is a great tackler for a CB and can read QBs

 

[Coach]

and who the hell is #2 then? William Gay is #1 but he won't be defending the AJ Green's of the league, he's way better in the short zone as he is a great tackler for a CB and can read QBs

Should read as soon as Burns moves up to #2, Cockrell is #3.

 

[ark steel]

Should read as soon as Burns moves up to #2, Cockrell is #3.

I would hope, by year end, Burns has shown enough to make this happen. Nothing against Cockrell, it is just what I would expect from a 1st round DB without a stud DB in front of him.

 

[Litos]

I think next year Gay will be the nickel CB and he will still play 75% of the snaps

 

[Punxsutawney]

For some reason, Tomlin played Blake on the outside instead of Cockrell. A mistake that I mentioned a few times If I hated Cockrell I would not have sid that, would I? DUH.
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I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure when Cockrell played last season, they played him exclusively outside, opposite Blake, while moving Gay inside. That was until they started playing Boykin late and the season and started doing that weird rotation thing where they played Blake in the first half and replaced him with Cockrell in the 2nd of games.

Despite lacking great speed, outside is where they like to play Cockrell because he is a taller CB at around 6'. To me, he's a taller Deshea Townsend.

I think he has enough talent to be a solid #2 going forward, especially if a faster CB like Burns emerges as a good defender to complement him.

Gay is approaching dinosaur status by CB standards. He's not going to factor into the equation much longer.

 

[Punxsutawney]

and who the hell is #2 then? William Gay is #1 but he won't be defending the AJ Green's of the league, he's way better in the short zone as he is a great tackler for a CB and can read QBs

Gay is the slowest, least athletic of the three CBs. He's the shortest as well. He pretty much gets by on smarts and technique.

Depending on one's criteria, he may not even be the Steelers' best CB. Tomlin and Butler are putting Cockrell on the opponent's best WR for a reason.