2025 NFL Draft Steelers Analysis
What Would a Steelers, DeShon Elliott Contract Extension Look Like?
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been scouting safeties in the 2025 NFL Draft class, including taking a good, long look at South Carolina strong safety Nick Emmanwori.
The Steelers sent defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander to Columbia, South Carolina for Emmanwori’s pro day earlier in the cycle, and on Friday, the team brought Emmanwori to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for a pre-draft visit.
Emmanwori is 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, and though he’s a freak athlete, he almost certainly projects to play strong safety at the NFL level. The Steelers, of course, have a strong safety that played very well in 2024 in DeShon Elliott. So why the interest in Emmanwori?
It could be that the Steelers are looking to play even more of their three-safety Nickel package in 2025 than they have before, and even with Elliott, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Juan Thornhill in the mix, the club still wants to take a swing at another piece of the puzzle at that position.
It could also be that the Steelers might not want to give Elliott a contract extension this offseason.
Elliott was a revelation coming over from the Miami Dolphins. In 2025, he set a career high with 108 tackles, finishing second on the Steelers. He also had an interception, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries, providing plenty of splash at the position.
In coverage, Elliott targeted 68 times, but allowed just 48 receptions, per Pro Football Focus. His 9.4 yards per reception against was a career low, and his 6.7 yards per target was a massive improvement over his previous few seasons.
Elliott came to Pittsburgh on a fairly meager two-year, $6 million contract that is scheduled to pay him $3.75 million in 2025. Obviously, after his career resurgence, a new contract would come at a higher price point. But what would a contract extension with Elliott look like?
The top of the market for in-the-box safeties is the $19 million average annual value contract the Los Angeles Chargers gave to Derwin James. James is a four-time All-Pro, so I think we can rule that out for a comparison for Elliott.
Elliott seems more likely to land in the upper middle class of strong safeties. Trevon Moehrig, Grant Delpit and Julian Thompson have signed recent deals in the $12 to $17 million per year rage, but all of those players were signing second contracts at age 24 or 25. Elliott will be 27 in a few weeks.
So let’s take a look at some more contemporary comparisons:
STEELERS, DESHON ELLIOTT CONTRACT EXTENSION COMPS
🏈 Julian Love, Seattle Seahawks: three-year, $33-million contract extension with $13.2 guaranteed, signed at age 26 in 2024.
🏈 Justin Reid, New Orleans Saints: three-year, $31.5-million contract with $22.25 million guaranteed, signed at age 28 in 2025.
🏈 Jeremy Chinn, Las Vegas Raiders: two-year, $16.258-million contract with $12.25 million guaranteed, signed at age 27 in 2025.
🏈 Malik Hooker, Dallas Cowboys: three-year, $21-million contract extension with $16.5 million guaranteed, signed at age 27 in 2023.
Elliott had about as good of a 2025 season as any of that group, but even if you just take the average of it, it would represent a significant raise. Let’s say the Steelers wanted to tack two more years onto Elliott’s contract. Using the above contract comps, that could look something like two years, $18.5 million with $10 million guaranteed.
That represents nearly a threefold raise on Elliott’s current salary. Now, that doesn’t meant that’s where the sides are in negotiations right now — if they’re even in negotiations — but it’s understandable why the Steelers would at least want to do their due diligence on the idea of drafting a replacement at this juncture.
That could also be the reason their interest in safety seems targeted, and not the full-court press they’re putting on at other positions. Kevin Winston Jr. from Penn State, the second-highest rated strong safety in the draft class, did not get significant attention from the Steelers at his pro day and also has not come in for a pre-draft visit.
So are the Steelers interested in replacing Elliott? At this juncture, that remains to be seen, but it’s clear they do have some interest in Emmanwori.