Pittsburgh Steelers fans are at their limit with the play of veteran cornerback Darius Slay, but his near-weekly injuries have been just as concerning. Unfortunately, he suffered another injury in the Steelers’ primetime meeting with the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night.
Slay teamed up with a few other Steelers to make a tackle and was slow to get up after the play. Slay was taken to the locker room, where he is being evaluated for a concussion. He’s been ruled questionable to return to the game.
The frustrating nature of his availability is that the Steelers don’t have many players to turn to in his absence.
Darius Slay is out again, and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ cornerback depth is now a major concern
If Slay can’t return to the game, then the Steelers will be left with Joey Porter Jr., Brandin Echols, and James Pierre at the cornerback position. With Echols manning the slot, Pierre is set to fill in for Slay. In true base packages, in which Echols would typically come off the field, Pierre was in for Slay at the outside corner opposite Porter.
Steelers fans know all too well that Pierre is not a starting-11 caliber player, so his presence on the defense will be unsettling to the fan base for as long as it persists. Even with Slay’s struggles this season, Pierre is a noticeable step down in coverage.
One option, if necessary, is moving Jalen Ramsey to cornerback and allowing Juan Thornhill to man the free safety spot. That would be a drastic swap, and not necessarily one that Mike Tomlin and his defensive coaching staff would want to make in the middle of a game.
READ MORE: Steelers’ nightmare with Darius Slay unfolding just as fans feared
As for Slay, a concussion is never a predictable injury. If he can’t return to the game, he could be out for a week or longer. Either scenario puts strain on a defense that is already top-heavy in talent at his position and has gone through so much change in 10 weeks.
We’ll continue to monitor Slay’s status as more information becomes available.
