Steven Nelson Among Best in Man Coverage
Steven Nelson joined the Steelers last offseason in what many thought was a leap of faith on a player with little credibility.
What it turned into was the cusp of a Pro Bowl and one of the best new members of the Steelers' defense. Analyzing his play on the field, he was recognized as one of the top 10 man-to-man corners in the NFL last season.
According to Pro Football Focus' rankings, Nelson had 28 balls thrown his way when lined up in man coverage and only allowed 12 catches. Of those, only eight led to a first down.
"Nelson's 2019 season flew under the radar, but by many metrics you look at, it was one of the better seasons of any cornerback in the NFL," PFF wrote. "His man coverage grade is one such metric. The Steelers are another team that doesn't run a ton of man coverage (23rd highest rate in the NFL last season), but Nelson played well when he was asked to man up ... Minkah Fitzpatrick gets a lot of recognition for his impact on the secondary ─ and deservedly so ─ but Nelson had quite the impact himself in his first year."
Nelson was awarded a 73.4 grade for man coverage. That leaves him within one point of both Prince Amukamara (74.0) and Marlon Humphrey (74.4).
Heading into the second year of his contract, Nelson is set to earn $7 million this season. His expectations for himself and the defense as a whole is to take their game to a new level.
"We have to be in that top category, wherever that may be," Nelson said on the Steelers defense last month. "We're stacked from top to bottom. Even non-starters are very talented. We have great coaching. So we definitely have a group to take us all the way, so I think that speaks volumes."
Noah Strackbein is a Senior Writer with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
