Steelers lock up Cortez Allen with $26M deal

The Steelers made the sensible move of locking up corner, Cortez Allen for the next five years with a $26M deal it was reported late Saturday.

Since effectively red-shirting his rookie year in 2011 with just 60 defensive snaps Allen has grown to the point he is now one of the key defenders in Pittsburgh. It begun with an excellent season playing slot in 2012 where he allowed only a 65.7 QB rating into his coverage, good enough for fifth in the league and garnered him our plaudits as the Steelers “Secret Superstar”.

It continued last year, where, with the superb Keenan Lewis' departure, he took more of an outside role (over 80% of snaps) and was solid once again with a +2.8 grade ranking him 41st in coverage among 110 corners. However, William Gay’s excellent play together with the Steelers almost blind obsession with a badly fading Ike Taylor meant this only equated to seven starts

In 2014 he’ll be the full-time starter and that together with his positional flexibility should keep on the field for his first 1000 snap season.

One final point. He’s a decent special teamer too. While he does need to improve on his safety role on kick coverage (ostensibly as the L1) he’s already one of the better vise (the role which blocks the gunners) around.