Twin above the line performances against good offenses isn’t about to make Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin complacent when it comes to strengthening a struggling Steelers secondary.
The sting of the loss to the San Dieg er um, Los Angles Chargers was still fresh when the news broke that the Steelers had claimed Sebastian Castro off of waivers.
- That wasn’t surprising.
- The Steelers liked Castro and hadn’t wanted to lose him from the practice squad.
But cutting Juan Thornhill to make room for Castro was a bit of a surprise. After all, they’d thought enough of Thornhill in the off season to return Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Dolphins.
Sebastian Castro makes a tackle in preseason. Photo Credit: Barry Reeger, IMGAN Images via Dearoldgold.com
Prior to cutting Thornhill and claiming Castro off of waivers, Mike Tomlin had already benched him and shifted Jalen Ramsey to safety so the secondary shakeup was already in motion.
This sequence got the grey matter churning back to memories of a similar move at safety a long time ago and to the larger question of how much impact one person can have on the overall performance of a defense.
Echos of the 2000 Turnaround?
Today Steelers Nation remembers the 1999 NFL Draft for bringing Joey Porter Sr. and Aaron Smith to Pittsburgh. Add two players like that in a single draft, and you’ve done well, no bones about it.
- But the early take on the 1999 wasn’t so good and Scott Shields was one of the main reasons.
Having lost had lost Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake in rapid succession and with Darren Perry aging rapidly, the Steelers went into the 1999 draft needing to bolster safety. And to do that Tom Donahoe and Bill Cowher took Scott Shields in the 2nd round.
Shields came from Weber State, so the move surprised people. Washington, DC radio journalist Ken Beatrice decried the Steelers pick of Shields as “inexplicable.” Still, Shields boasted an uber-athletic profile who even might be able to place kick in a pinch. Somebody at Three Rivers Stadium head Shields in high regard as they issued him Number 47.
Scott Shields sacks Tony Banks. Photo Credit: Bigskyconf.com
Shields appeared in all 16 games as a rookie and made 4 interceptions, batted away 6 passes and even recorded a sack. Those flashes were one of the few signs of hope during a dismal 6-10 1999 Steelers season.
The 2000 Steelers opened with a brutal loss to Baltimore at home, followed by a last-second loss to Cleveland on the road that featured, among other things, Tim Couch leading his team down the field late in the 4th quarter for a go-ahead score.
Bill Cowher and Tim Lewis relieved Shields of his starting duties after that game.
A week later saw the Steelers lead the Titans for almost an entire game until Jason Gildon knocked out Neil O’Donnell, bringing in Steve McNair, who only needed 3 passes and 2 runs to pull the Titans ahead.
- Shields, who’d been relegated to playing in the dime, got benched outright after week three.
Week four saw the Steelers travel to Jacksonville, where their dominating defense set the tone for the coming decade by upsetting the Jaguars.
Shortly afterwards, Tim McMillen, perhaps the pioneer of the Steelers blogging community, made an observation along the lines of, “I don’t want to scapegoat anyone, but has anyone noticed how much better the defense has been since Scott Shields started riding the pine full time?”
For his part, Shields would appear on special teams for 7 more games in 2000 before going on IR in November and got cut in 2001. After that he’d spend time on training camp rosters for the Bills, Dolphins and Chiefs, but he never played another down of NFL football.
Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward in the playoff win against the Bengals. Photo Credit: Tony Tribble, AP via Al.com
The 2000 Pittsburgh Steelers continued to improve, but missed the playoffs. At the time, few could read between the 9-7 lines to see that with Alan Faneca, Hines Ward, Deshea Townsend, Smith and Porter Pittsburgh was assembling the core of two Super Bowl teams.
Ramsey as a Difference Maker to be Put to the Test
When the history of the 2025 Steelers season is written, no one will finger Sebastian Castro’s return as the moment the secondary turned a corner.
- Mike Tomlin’s decision to move Jalen Ramsey to safety may be a different story.
In Juan Thornhill’s last two starts a free safety the Steelers gave up a combined 702 yards to Joe Flacco and Jordan Love. Since Ramsey moved to safety, the Steelers have given up 562 to Daniel Jones and Justin Herbert – with a good chunk of Jones’ yards coming in garbage time.
Jalen Ramsey lays in the wood on Tyler Warren. Photo Credit: Alysa Rubin, Steelers.com
To paraphrase my old friend Tim McMillen, “…I don’t want to scapegoat Tornhill or anything like that, but with him out and Jalen Ramsey at safety, the defense seems to be better.”
Better it has been. But with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins coming to down, the biggest test of Ramsey moving to safety is yet to come.
win this weekend