Getty Image / Kevin Abele
When football fans think about NFL teams that need to address their defense over the course of the offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers probably aren’t one of the first teams to cross their minds.
That hasn’t stopped them from loading up on that side of the ball.
The team has already signed Patrick Peterson, Cole Holcomb, and Elandon Roberts this offseason to bolster their defense.
Now they’ve added another piece to a unit that allowed the league’s 10th least points in 2022.
Today, Keanu Neal’s agent tweeted out a message revealing that the safety had signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Congratulations to @gsefootball client @Keanu_Neal on agreeing to terms on a new 2 year contract to join @steelers pic.twitter.com/35BDtALrRt
— David Canter (@davidcanter) March 30, 2023
According to the tweet, Neal is joining the Steelers on a two-year contract.
Neal is a former first round pick for the Atlanta Falcons and he needed just 2 years in the league to earn a Pro Bowl nomination.
He racked up 222 tackles over the course of his first two seasons before injury issues limited him to just 4 games across his next two seasons.
He bounced back with 100 tackles in his last season with the Falcons before heading to Dallas. He was moved to linebacker with the Cowboys, but then reverted back to being a safety when he went to the Buccaneers a year later.
Neal isn’t quite the player we saw early in his career, but he has been a solid contributor for 3 different teams over the last 3 years and remains, to quote the guy from the Greg Jennings Madden video, one of the most hardest hitting safeties in the league.
With moves like this, the Pittsburgh Steelers are poised to be one of football’s best defenses again next season. Now they just need to get things figured out on the other side of the ball.