DeShon Elliott started for the franchise in the safety position for eight games, and then suffered a serious injury. In his absence, Jalen Ramsey was moved to the position to cover for him. Going into the 2026 season, the position could once again be a huge problem for Mike McCarthy’s team.

Since moving on from Mike Tomlin, the team has made a lot of changes in different positions, and safety was also an area where they brought in acquisitions. However, one of their free-agent signings has been labelled as a “liability” by a Bleacher Report analyst.

“Free-agent addition Jaquan Brisker was a liability for the Bears last season, allowing an opposing passer rating of 127.6 in coverage,” Bleacher Reports Kristopher Knox wrote.

The concern is there in the passer rating itself. For the Bears, Brisker put up some great stats, but the underlying figures showed that he did not have the best of seasons. His opposer passer rating indicated results that made it very easy for opposition offenses to make attacks on him. Pro Football Focus gave him a 50.9 PFF coverage grade that ranks him 76th among safeties in the NFL. He allowed 36 pass completions at a 75% pass completion rate for opposing QBs on just 50 targets in his direction.

While Knox is spot-on with the safety concern in Pittsburgh, he might be off the mark when it comes to Brisker. The ex-Bears player had 93 combined tackles and an interception, starting all 17 regular-season games.

Currently on a one-year deal, Brisker will start in the Steelers’ secondary alongside safety DeShon Elliot. The latter suffered an MCL sprain and a hamstring injury, forcing him to miss out on 12 regular-season games in 2025.

While Elliott was excellent in 2024, accumulating 108 combined tackles, one interception, six pass deflections, and two forced fumbles that season per Pro Football Reference, the issue with him is whether he’ll stay fit for the whole season, something that has not happened once in his NFL career. He has missed 10 or more games in three out of his seven pro seasons.

While there are concerns around Brisker, the good news is that the move to Pittsburgh is a return home for him. He is local to the city and went to Gateway High School.

“My family, they’re strong Pittsburgh fans and they’re so happy I’m in Pittsburgh so they don’t have to cheer for nobody else,” said Brisker. “They said, we’re putting our black and gold back on. I’m like, let’s go. They’re super happy and super excited and pumped so they’re ready for this opportunity. I love football so much. I was always an intense Steelers fan, watching games on television and stuff. This is amazing.”

While the safety position is not completely secure, there are other problems as well in defense that the Steelers will need to respond to in order to succeed.

Pittsburgh Steelers have other problems on defense

In his first season as head coach, Mike McCarthy will be tasked with improving on a 10-7 team that exited the postseason in the Wild Card round in 2025. And Knox’s concerns about their secondary are certainly valid.

Pittsburgh’s pass defence ranked 30th in the league last season, with 4,437 passing yards allowed at an average of 261 passing yards allowed per game per StatMuse. Opposing quarterbacks threw 30 passing touchdowns against the Steelers while completing 64.6% of their passes for a 92.2 passer rating per Pro Football Reference.

With new Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham coming in, a lot of changes could be expected in the way that the team plays as a unit.

T.J. Watt has already spoken about how life has been adapting to the Graham way of playing, and even admitted to something he refused to do in the past that hindered the defense.

With the eyes on the Steelers heading into the McCarthy era, it will be exciting to see what the team does to fill the gaps in the safety position and the other defensive concerns. If they want a chance to win, the secondary will have to do well, as that has been the success for the Steelers in their long history.