The Pittsburgh Steelers deployed seven different defensive backs in their secondary on Sunday in their regular-season opener against the Buffalo Bills. Two of the seven were not on the roster last year. Another two were not full-time starters at that time, with one of them only seeing a few dozen snaps on defense.
That left it up to returning veterans like Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joe Haden—along with Terrell Edmunds and Cameron Sutton—to lead those new and young faces into the Steelers way. That was particularly pertinent for rookie seventh-round pick Tre Norwood, but also for James Pierre, a college free agent last year.