3 Defensive Steelers Players Who Need to Shine During Training Camp
Training camp has arrived! As the Steelers report to St. Vincent College this week, here are 3 defensive players who will need to give their all.
If you missed the 3 offensive players who need to shine, you can check it out HERE!
Sebastian Castro
Sebastian Castro is an undrafted free agent safety from this year’s draft class out of Iowa. Interestingly, Castro was one of three Iowa players in the 2025 draft class to join the Steelers. When he was signed, many, including SCN’s own Kevin Smith, had great things to say about him. The young man was a 3-year starter at Iowa, and he is thought to have a high football IQ. For what it’s worth, Castro was named the best undrafted free agent signing of 2025 by Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic.
Following the trade with the Miami Dolphins this offseason, Minkah Fitzpatrick is gone. No one has been signed to replace him as of today. With one less safety to compete for a roster spot with, Castro has a real shot at making the team. However, despite him being highly thought of, he still went undrafted for a reason. Castro will consequently have to work hard to impress the coaching staff and earn himself a spot. That process starts with having a great training camp.
Jalen Ramsey
Some might think I’m crazy for thinking this man needs to have a good camp. Ramsey has been a household name in the NFL for years and, although he isn’t 25 anymore, he still has some quality football left in his career. Hear me out. Prior to the trade, despite Minkah Fitzpatrick’s lack of splash plays over the past few seasons, reports stated he looked great this offseason.
Whether Fitzpatrick was declining athletically or not is up for debate, but he was beloved in Pittsburgh regardless. He very much became a fan favorite from the moment he arrived in the Steel City. I think the trade with Miami was a smart move on the Steelers’ part, but I will miss watching Minkah in black and gold on Sundays. I’m sure I’m not alone in that feeling as a fan. Ramsey has been a proven commodity for a long time, but if he doesn’t impress in training camp, there are plenty of people who will begin to question this trade.
I have no doubts that Ramsey will have a good camp, but it needs to happen to prevent a small media circus. Without it, both Ramsey and the Steelers organization will be a large talking point throughout July and August, especially if Minkah looks awesome in Miami.
Cory Trice
While the struggles of his young NFL career are not all in his control, Cory Trice’s future with Pittsburgh may be in jeopardy. The Steelers coaching staff may value him and his potential, but the 2023 7th round pick has not been able to escape the injury bug. Coupled with the addition of two new CBs this offseason, Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, Jr., I’m not sure where Trice fits in on this roster. He’s young and still on a rookie contract, which plays to his advantage. Slay especially is in the latter part of his career.
I think Trice is capable of making the roster. I’m hopeful that he will. I’m rooting for the guy, as injuries have plagued his career thus far. He needs a strong showing in camp to remind the Steelers of his value in a crowded defensive back room.
Fair or unfair, I’d include Benton.
Castro will not have to compete with Blackmon as the Saints quickly moved to replace Mathieu. To be clear, I’m all for Castro performing well, and understand that good backups are difficult to find/field at every position.
Benton would have been a good one to include! I accidently considered him, but I figured with the DL rostered, he’s likely going to be heavy in the rotation even with an average camp. That was just my thought though!
a true Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since the 70’s let me start by saying the N.F.L. shuold have four preseason games I’m hopping that CB Cory Trice Jr. stays healthy to start along side CB Joey Porter Jr. I want to see if the how the Steelers are going to use Sebastian Castro as a slot safety or a slot CB now I still don’t understand why Steelers Omar Khan traded the Steelers best safety in Minkah Fitzpatrick for garbage in too old, too slow, and over paid Jalen Ramsey
Ed, your appeal should be directed at the NFLPA, not the NFL. Maybe Khan wanted to see how much Steeler money he could spend on experienced CBs that are hurt less often than Trice? Maybe Trice will move to WR2? That would be a shocker at camp.
What has Trice done for the Steelers besides take up space in the training room? Is he your son in law or something?
Agreed but It’s not just Ed, though. For whatever reason, Corey Trice has an odd cult-like following that I don’t get. He’s a 7th round pick who is probably lucky to still be in the NFL given the lack of what he’s done. Yeah, injuries are part of that but those are the breaks.
Disagree on the 4 pre-season games, Ed. To me, 3 is too many also. Preseason games are silly to me. It’s young guys versus young guys. While that has some value, the real value is young guys versus tenured guys and that can only happen in regular season games.
Kenny Pickett looked like a Hall of Famer while playing against young guys. He is on his 3rd team in 3 years while playing against tenured guys.
2 preseason games tops, maybe even just one.
The NFL has changed since the ’60s. My concern is not so much preseason game count, but lack of time to spend on fundamentals such as blocking and tackling. I suppose OL Masterminds, TE University, and private coaches handle some fundamentals, just would seem better for teams to perform the training, to me. 18 regular season games will mean two preseason games, if not also the disappearance of OTAs. Young players’ development may suffer.
With free agencies (good ones) available at Safety position, I disagree that he needs to shine. Of course, I think there is an expectation to him to shine and make the roster because of everything people say about him, but I don’t see the need to shine.
Instead, of this list, I would include Benton. He needs to prove that the second year struggle was not because of lack of talent or tools and just because the position he played.
One FA option at safety disappeared yesterday, and agree w/Benton.
I don’t get why Benton had a “seconds year struggle.” His stats were almost identical as the year before and he all-around played better according to Pro Football Reference AV metric (not according to PFF, but don’t fans hate that anyway?). He plays the most selfless position on defense as his job is primarily to take on blockers to let others get the stats. I hoped he would have taken a bigger step in year 2, but to say he struggled I believe is inaccurate.
I didn’t mean “struggled”, he just needs to improve, is all. He’ll have the chance to do so, and he is able.
Yeah, no improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 isn’t good. He’s bound to improve but we’ll see.
I hope we see it. DL and ILB aren’t easy in the NFL.
I have to say I agree, Dave. I didn’t notice any sort of struggle in his performance last year.