Saunders: Expect Steelers to Address CB Before Draft Day
INDIANAPOLIS — The Pittsburgh Steelers did meet with some of the top cornerback prospects at the 2025 NFL Combine this week, but multiple sources have told Steelers Now that the team is more likely to address the cornerback position before they get to the 2025 NFL Draft.
There is a bumper crop of players on the free agent market at the position, and there are a couple that could be of particular interest to the Steelers.
First and foremost is this week’s news that the Green Bay Packers will trade cornerback Jaire Alexander, if they get an offer they like.
The Steelers have been linked to Alexander, and with good reason. He was repeatedly mocked to the Steelers in the 2018 NFL Draft cycle, before Green Bay snagged him 10 picks ahead of Pittsburgh. According to an SN source, the team has inquired about trading for him once before.
Alexander, 28, has struggled to stay healthy as of late, playing in just seven games in each of the past two seasons. However, when healthy, he is still one of the best ballhawks in the league. Since being selected in the first-round (No. 18 overall) in the 2018 NFL Draft, Alexander has recorded 287 tackles, 1.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 12 interceptions and 70 passes defensed.
Alexander ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash coming out of Louisville — where he was coached by ex-Steelers DBs coach Grady Brown — and the Steelers seemed prioritize putting a speed corner alongside Joey Porter Jr. when they went out and got Donte Jackson in 2024.
Alexander would just be a more-accomplished version. He was an All-Pro in 2020 and 2022.
Since then, he’s shared another trait with Jackson: a susceptibility to injury. He missed three games with a back injury and six with a shoulder in 2023, and then missed 10 games with a knee injury in 2024.
There’s another player with some Steelers links available in free agency, and that’s former Las Vegas Raiders slot cornerback Nate Hobbs.
Hobbs started as an outside cornerback with the Raiders, but has really come into his own since moving to the slot. Current Steelers DBs coach Gerald Alexander was on the coaching staff in Las Vegas while Hobbs
The Steelers see him a slot option that could move outside in a pinch, and with both Jackson and Cam Sutton set to hit free agency, they could use both of those skillsets.
Trading for Alexander and signing Hobbs is just one scenario of many that would allow the Steelers to address the cornerback position before the draft.
The Steelers did meet with a handful of first-round cornerback options this week, scheduling formal interviews with Michigan’s Will Johnson, Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison and Texas’ Jahdae Barron.
Johnson likely won’t make it to the Steelers at No. 21. Barron is a legitimate candidate with similar speed to Alexander (he ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash on Friday). Morrison is coming off a major, season-ending injury and won’t run this week.
But overall, the Steelers NFL Combine interview dance card was much more heavily laden at positions like defensive tackle, wide receiver and running back than it was cornerback. That makes sense, since those positions are much shallower in free agency, and in the case of defensive line and running back, deeper in the draft class.