(05-19-2015, 11:22 PM)Bryan Wrote: With Polamalu retired and Ed Reed long gone, the best safety picture is a little muddled. So, who ya got as the best safety? Free, Strong, doesn't matter.

(05-20-2015, 09:17 AM)djs7685 Wrote: Iloka led the league last year in cover snaps per reception. Will Hill was actually #2 in this category, and he had a solid year after his suspension.

Nelson and Iloka were 2nd and 3rd respectively in PD last year. Iloka had a great year in coverage all together, Nelson continues to be underrated. Shawn Williams hasn't shown much. The Bengals are definitely thin at this position, they obviously rely heavily on their starters remaining as healthy as they've been recently.

Jeromy Miles (of all people) played extremely well in Baltimore for the most part. What's going on with him? Is he still a free agent? I'd have thought he'd have some interest from Baltimore and other teams after last season. Kendrick Lewis isn't bad but isn't great either. Elam is just awful. Not sure about the other young guys on their roster.

Gipson just had an overall great year last season. I'd say he's probably the best in the division until further notice. Iloka could be a contender for that title and we'll have to see if Hill can keep up his high level of play while staying out of trouble. Whitner is good, he's probably the only household name at S left in the division with Ward, Polamalu, and Reed all being gone. Again, not sure of their young guys.

The Steelers better hope Shamarko Thomas is capable of doing something other than playing on special teams. They also better hope that Mike Mitchell decides to play better in the future. Mitchell gave up an obscene 128.8 passer rating last year with 0 PD and 0 INT. He wasn't good against the run either having only 3 total stops in 350+ run snaps. He's going to start accounting for $6.7+ million of their cap hit for 2016 and beyond and he also carries a hefty dead cap number until 2017-2018.  Will Allen is about to be 33 and he isn't very good to begin with, but that's probably why he's a backup. Pittsburgh looks rough at S.

There are some VERY good safeties in this division right now, but not many of them are media darlings that get a lot of love outside of their respective city.

It's kind of crazy talking about good safeties in the division and every team but the Steelers comes to mind.

(05-20-2015, 09:42 AM)Blitzburgh06 Wrote: They're rebuilding. They will be back in the conversation soon. Just going to take a few years. Offense is fine, the defense needs rebuilding. This years draft addressed a ton of the issues that we had. We will see if it actually fixes them.

(05-20-2015, 10:05 AM)Bmoreblitz Wrote: My vote is for Gipson. Nelson had a very good year. Watch out for Hill this year if he plays a full season.

(05-20-2015, 10:05 AM)Bmoreblitz Wrote: My vote is for Gipson. Nelson had a very good year. Watch out for Hill this year if he plays a full season.

(05-20-2015, 10:37 AM)djs7685 Wrote: The Steelers offense is pretty sick, no doubt. As a fan of the Bengals, I hope that rebuilding process takes a while I could be wrong, but I don't see anyone on the Steelers roster even coming close to competing for playing time at S. Allen is older and not very good, and who else is back there? It really looks like they're set with Mitchell and Thomas, hopefully (for your sake) it works out for you guys. Also, it will be interesting and even somewhat disappointing to not see Dick LeBeau around anymore

(05-20-2015, 11:10 PM)Johnny Cupcakes Wrote: Iloka is a really good safety who has flown under the radar up to this point in his career.  I don't think calling him the best in the division is a great compliment though....the division was weak on safety play last year.