The Steelers’ plan for DeShon Elliott has hit a hard pause, and the timing could hardly be worse for a defense trying to settle in for the 2026 regular season.
Elliott had worked his way back onto the practice field late in training camp, then showed up in Pittsburgh’s second preseason game against the New York Jets. That looked like the last checkpoint before Week 1. Instead, the team placed the safety on Injured Reserve with a designation to return, which keeps him out of practice and out of games for the first four weeks of the season.
Pittsburgh has maintained that Elliott did not aggravate the injury in that preseason appearance, though the circumstances remain murky. Whatever happened, the result is the same for the Steelers: their secondary takes a major hit before the season even gets rolling.
The loss lands especially hard because there isn’t an obvious fix waiting in the wings. Without Elliott, Pittsburgh is expected to lean on first-year Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker, with Jalen Ramsey or Rayshawn Jenkins also in the mix to help cover the vacancy.
That leaves the defense in a rough spot after a 2025 season in which the passing defense finished in the bottom 10 of the NFL. Elliott’s return was supposed to be a key part of getting that group back on track. Now, new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has to manage the back end without one of its central pieces.
For now, the Steelers are stuck waiting. Elliott won’t be eligible to practice or play for the first four weeks, and there’s no guarantee the player they get back will be exactly the same as the one they had in 2024 and 2025 before the injury. He can get back to that level, but it isn’t a given.
Even in his lone preseason appearance, there were signs that didn’t look fully right. His lateral quickness appeared to be missing some of its usual pop, and that may have factored into the team’s decision to put him on IR.
However it unfolded, Pittsburgh is entering the season with a patched-together secondary and a serious problem at safety. The Steelers are once again asking a makeshift group to hold things together while Elliott recovers, and that’s a difficult spot for any defense to be in.
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