Considering that the Pittsburgh Steelers have never spent more in outside free agency than this offseason with the signings, in particular, of cornerback Steven Nelson and inside linebacker Mark Barron, their progress of integrating themselves into the defense has gone relatively unheralded.
In Barron’s case, a lot of that has to do with his being overshadowed by 10th-overall pick Devin Bush, who was drafted over a month after the former was originally signed. But he’s shown this offseason that he clearly will play this year, too.
With both Bush and Vince Williams sitting out the second preseason with minor nicks, we were able to get a pretty long and quality look at Barron playing the first handful of series, every snap, with the first-team defense.