While Sebastian Castro’s path to the roster principally rests on special teams, one reporter believes a position switch would help. The Steelers moved him to safety when they signed him as a college free agent, but at Iowa, he played a different role. What they called the “Cash” position has been filled by notable names, including Amani Hooker and Cooper DeJean.
Now, Sebastian Castro is not exactly Cooper DeJean. But DeFabo can’t help but wonder if the Steelers are doing him a bit of a disservice by sticking him at safety. He seemed to be down on Castro’s spring performance more than others were. Because of the disparity, training camp and the preseason, with more eyes on the players, should be more telling. With DeShon Elliott not quite 100 percent, the second-year defensive back logged significant time this spring.
“The next guy taking those snaps was Sebastian Castro”, DeFabo said on The Yinziders podcast. “He’s a guy who’s 5-11, not a tremendous amount of size. Did not run a particularly fast 40. He played more of what the Steelers now call the star position, kind of that slot corner, when he was at Iowa. I think that probably is where he fits best as a sub-package defensive back, not necessarily as your backup strong safety to DeShon Elliott. Or even a free safety—I think ideally you’d have a free-safety body type”.
The Steelers’ notable names at safety are DeShon Elliott, Jaquan Brisker, Darnell Savage, Sebastian Castro, and rookie seventh-round pick Robert Spears-Jennings. While some are high on Spears-Jennings, he may have to impress most on special teams. Elliot and Brisker will start, and Jalen Ramsey will likely see time there in the base defense as well.
But Ramsey likely would only be a consideration for a full-time move to safety in an extreme situation. Ideally, one imagines the Steelers would prefer to have somebody who can actually step up and start at safety. Savage is the experienced veteran, but there are those who are less enthusiastic about what he could bring to the table at this stage of his career.
And it’s not obvious that Sebastian Castro would be ideally suited for that role, either, never mind the lack of experience. In fact, that’s presumably why the Steelers moved him to safety, to cover up what they perceived as deficiencies.
But he would be serving as depth either way. The question is, would Castro function better as depth at safety or as a slot defender? That partly depends on what they intend to ask the slot defender to do. Brandin Echols is next in line behind Ramsey, and he’s not exactly an athletic freak.