Now in a new phase of his career, Darnell Savage understands he has to prove himself as a veteran with the Steelers. Recently signed after months of undisclosed complications, he will compete this summer to make the roster. While his place on the team is not guaranteed, his effort, he suggests, is.
“I know who I am”, Savage told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Chris Harlan, having lost his starting job last season under a new coaching staff and eventually getting released. “I know what I’m capable of. I know there’s still a lot of meat on the bone for me, personally, as far as just what I have left”.
A 2019 first-round pick, Darnell Savage arrived in Green Bay a year after his new head coach with the Steelers lost his job with the Packers. Over six seasons—the last in Jacksonville—he started 82 of 85 games.
Last season, however, the Jaguars hired Liam Coen as head coach, and Darnell Savage lost his place in the starting lineup. They let him go after two games and he later found himself in Washington and then Buffalo. Across all of last season with three teams, he logged 266 defensive snaps.
Now in Pittsburgh, Savage understands he is not here to start. The Steelers return DeShon Elliott and signed Jaquan Brisker. Jalen Ramsey will also have a role at safety, perhaps a very prominent one. Behind them, there is only room for one or two other safeties. And the safety they need, some believe, may not even be on the roster yet.
Darnell Savage has the obvious edge over the rest of the group in one key area, which is experience. And soon to turn 29 years old, he’s not exactly falling apart as he walks. Despite over 5,000 career snaps played, there should be something left in the tank. Certainly, the desire is still there.
“You are going to get everything I’ve got”, Savage told Harlan. But he admitted that he doesn’t know what the Steelers have planned for him, and due to his late signing, he had not been very involved in the defense as of yet. “Continue to keep the mind clean, keep the body healthy, continue to grow. Everything else will handle itself”, he concluded.
One thing that could be a problem for Darnell Savage is that he hasn’t played on special teams much lately. Even last year, having lost his starting job, he only logged 38 snaps in 12 games. If he’s going to be here as a depth safety, playing on special teams is basically a requirement. Just because he hadn’t done, it, however, doesn’t mean he can’t, like Jabrill Peppers managed last year.
At the end of the day, Savage is in competition for a job. His experience will be to his favor, but he also has to prove that he can keep up. The Steelers like second-year man Sebastian Castro, and they used a seventh-round pick on Robert Spears-Jennings. That might not sound like the stiffest competition in the world, and it’s not. But from where Savage is coming, he knows he can’t take any competition for granted.