No. Or we shouldn’t expect to. Kerby is one of their star players with Branch right behind him. Its not just about who will fill a position. Its hard for any team to win without their key players. What just came to my head right now is thinking how the Steelers would not have been able to win without Troy Polamalu.
The blame for losing could be spread all around. It’s a team game, but in 2023 we have to watch stuff like the ball hit Vildor’s helmet. In 2024 no Hutch, and massive injuries. In 2025 massive injuries plus big holes. Plus that best run stopping in the league was gone.
We’ve seen the best OL in the league. We seen great QB play, WR’s, running, etc. But until this team gets a solid defense, it’s going to be tough. I think this team will compete for the division title.
We have Aiden and we have Jack. After that is a bunch of question marks.
I think we will be fine as long as our LBers can tackle and cover and our front can pressure
probably a lot less man and more cover 2. Branch gave us a lot of flexibility to play man with his ability to diagnose and cover the outfield and Kerby had elite range. But not a lot of teams get two PB safety talents in their prime. Injury robbed us of that luxury
The Safeties on the roster have been average to above average last 2 seasons via PFF grades. Your not gonna find better than that anywhere else without giving up MAJOR draft capital in a trade.
The safeties scare me to death. I’ll rest easy if I ever hear Kerby is 100%, but I feel like sleep is going to be rough for awhile. Praying for a Lawyer Milloy like release (look it up), or some miracle trade. Otherwise, it’s going to be the weak link in the D.
Holmes did an interview after the draft and mentioned that they were open to drafting a safety, but also said something like the value just didn’t align with where they were picking.
There was only like 4-5 safeties in the draft that were sure fire better than our guys we have. It would cost way to much to move up to get em. Or sacrifice not getting edge or ot.
Not giving up a league high 3.0+s time to throw will help the he dbs out a lot.
I feel like the safety group is mid-point in terms of talent but I feel like we will know how to use them. Harper and Maddox are year two in this scheme with the same collection of guys roughly at CB. Arnold, Reed, Rakestraw and Ya Sin were all here in 2025. McCreary replaced Amik. Christian Ibien is a new face. The rest are the same. No rookies to break in. No kids. All 25+ years of age. All veterans.
I think this group will hold their own and give our leaders time to heal.
I really feel like the biggest question is, what will Shep do in year 2? How will he utilize the players and depth we do have? Will we be in base D a 1000% percent of the time? Is he ready to step up and turn grocery store workers into decent players alla AG in 23 and 24? Can he manage games better and create pressure instead of leaving the DBs on an island for an hr waiting on the DL to get to the QB?
