Carter’s Classroom: Kazee’s ‘Ballhawk’ Skills Boost Steelers (+)

The Pittsburgh Steelers needed another veteran deep safety option at some point during their offseason. As soon as the draft concluded, that answer became Damontae Kazee, a 29-year old free safety with 49 starts across five NFL seasons.

Kazee’s one-year deal gave the Steelers a trio of veteran safeties to depend upon in the back of their secondary with Kazee, Terrell Edmunds and Minkah Fitzpatrick. That fits the mold of an experienced secondary that can communicate on the “advanced” level Levi Wallace and Cameron Sutton told Pittsburgh Sports Now Thursday will lead to more forced turnovers.

The Steelers have gotten a good look during their first two training camp practices at how Kazee would play free safety for them. That’s in-part due to Fitzpatrick’s wrist injury that landed him on the team’s NFI-list (non-football related injury). But Kazee has impressed even the Steelers longest tenured defensive back in Sutton.