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Chiefs Rumor: Steelers to sign Sorensen?
Steelerswire.usatoday.com/2017/02/21/steelers-free-agent-target-daniel-sorensen/
The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the 2017 season in serious need of depth at the safety position. Mike Mitchell serves as the veteran presence of the group at free safety, and Sean Davis made impressive strides in his rookie season as he developed into the team’s starting strong safety.
Aside from Mitchell and Davis, the Steelers don’t have much else to fall back on. Shamarko Thomas is unlikely to be re-signed after four lackluster years in Pittsburgh. Robert Golden couldn’t play well enough to keep a starting job that fell into his lap, and Jordan Dangerfield was just re-signed to a one-year deal, but is mainly there to fill a roster spot.
The Steelers have over $30 million in salary cap space to work with when the new league year begins in early March. This isn’t an astronomical amount of money by any means, but is much more than the Steelers are accustom to having during the free agency period. With a few dollars to spend, Pittsburgh has the opportunity to add solid depth to their team.
Big name safeties on the free agent market such as Eric Berry, Barry Church, and Tony Jefferson are likely to receive big contracts from their respective teams, but they are not the type of players the Steelers target in free agency. Athletes such as Daniel Sorensen are the type of depth players the Steelers seek when adding from the free agent market.
Sorensen, who played safety at Brigham Young University, was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs after he went undrafted in 2014. He was placed on the team’s practice squad until being activated to the 53-man roster halfway through his rookie season. He was largely unproductive in 2014 and 2015, but made great contributions in the Chiefs’ secondary in 2016.
In 16 games last season, Sorensen accumulated 63 tackles (55 of them solo), three interceptions, six passes defended, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles, and a sack. In week seven, he returned one of those interceptions 48 yards for the first pick-six of his career in a 27-21 win against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.
Sorensen is to be a restricted free agent in 2017, which complicates matters if the Steelers are to acquire him. Hypothetically, if the Steelers were to tender an offer to Sorensen, the Chiefs have five days to better or match the offer given by Pittsburgh. If they decline to do so, the Steelers come away with a new player.
Normally in this situation, the Chiefs would receive draft compensation if they lost a restricted free agent. Since Sorensen was undrafted, the Steelers would not be required to give up a draft pick. This would make attempting to sign Sorensen easier since they would not be required to give up any sort of compensation.
Adding the safety to the Steelers’ defensive ranks would be a major upgrade to their secondary. At the time being, the Steelers do not have a player on their safety depth chart that could step in and start for a number of games if either of their starters were to become injured. Leaning on Dangerfield or Golden to make multiple starts would continue a disastrous trend that has occurred in Pittsburgh for the past few seasons.
With the cap space and need for talent, the Steelers have a great opportunity to add a number of talented players to their depth chart when the time comes to do so. If they are wise, they would make an investment in Sorensen, a capable cover safety that could aid them tremendously in seasons to come.
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