The Steelers’ secondary has drawn major attention this offseason, for understandable reasons, but one DB is getting overlooked. They seemingly have their top five locked in, with Jalen Ramsey playing in the slot, and perhaps safety in base. But Brandin Echols, the guy everyone stopped talking about, could be the next name to know.
“He’s your backup to Jalen Ramsey at the star position right now, and he also has versatility. If you want to play dime, or you want to do other things, he’s a great guy to say, ‘Okay, that’s the next DB on the field’”, Mike DeFabo said of Brandin Echols on The Yinziders podcast. “Even though he might get lost in the shuffle to some degree, I just feel like because of his ability to play in the slot, you kind of need him”.
He raised the subject of Echols in the context of players the Steelers might consider trading. While he concluded, reasonably, that the Steelers wouldn’t get much in return for him, he sees greater value for the secondary as a whole, anyway. And if Echols is the backup slot defender, that should go without saying.
There is a dubious perception that the Steelers suddenly have an abundance of riches in the secondary. But it’s not even clear that they have sufficient depth at safety, for one thing. At least not for what they would like to do, including avoiding moving Ramsey there again. They have Asante Samuel Jr. and Daylen Everette at cornerback, but are they proven commodities? And if you trade one, your depth starts to evaporate fast.
We saw that just last year in the Steelers’ secondary, and Brandin Echols gradually took on a bigger role. After trading for Jalen Ramsey, Echols went from potential starting slot to an afterthought. But he went from 10 snaps in Week 1 to 62 in Week 3. He played less after the Steelers added Samuel late in the year, but he still logged 522 snaps. And another 44 on defense in the playoffs.
And Echols was a productive member of the Steelers’ secondary last year, too. He picked off a couple passes, totaling 6 passes defensed. With 48 tackles, he tallied a career-high 3 for loss and recorded his first NFL sack. And his first forced fumble, too.
Now, you’re not going to go into a lab to create the perfect defensive back and have it spit out Brandin Echols. He’s undersized, for one thing, at least to play ideally on the outside. Which is why the discussion is mostly about him being the Steelers’ second slot defender in the secondary.
And lest we forget, Patrick Graham was already impressed by Echols before he even saw him on the field. The Steelers’ new defensive coordinator appreciates intelligent football players, especially in the secondary. That doesn’t mean they don’t have others—they have Jalen Ramsey, after all. But there’s a reason Graham gushed about Echols unprompted. Perhaps Mike DeFabo is right that he is a name that shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle.