{"id":692368,"date":"2026-06-08T22:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/692368\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T22:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:20:09","slug":"hes-gonna-be-an-enforcer-palazzolo-names-steelers-big-free-agent-steal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/692368\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He’s Gonna Be An Enforcer:’ Palazzolo Names Steelers’ Big Free Agent Steal"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Mike Tomlin stepped down as the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 head coach, that didn\u2019t stop Omar Khan from adding to the team in hopes<\/a> of competing for a Super Bowl. Signing safety Jaquan Brisker might\u2019ve been Khan\u2019s best move, though. Brisker was originally a 2022 second-round pick by the Chicago Bears, and he was a good player with them. However, the Steelers still managed to get him on a cheap contract. Analyst Steven Palazzolo thinks that deal is going to age beautifully.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe barely got paid,\u201d Palazzolo said Monday on his Check the Mic podcast.<\/a> \u201cBrisker against the world here. He\u2019s going to prove them wrong. Why didn\u2019t the Bears bring him back on the cheap? There\u2019s some doubt around Jaquan Brisker\u2019s game\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cHe signed for $5.5 million for one year. That\u2019s the league not believing in Brisker, who\u2019s my breakout player. You\u2019re gonna be a believer in Jaquan Brisker\u2026 There\u2019s another level to his game as well\u2026 He\u2019s gonna be an enforcer for the Steelers\u2026 He\u2019s getting a multi-year deal from someone else at the end of this season\u2026 A good multi-year deal. He\u2019s getting paid, as a safety, at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears were one of the best teams in the league last year, winning their division. Brisker was a big part of that, too. After being limited to only five games in 2024 due to injury, Brisker had a solid 2025 campaign, posting one interception, eight pass defenses, one sack, one tackle for loss, and 93 total tackles. He was a consistent presence on the back end of the Bears\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n

However, they opted to let him go, and Brisker landed with the Steelers. While it\u2019s still unclear what his role will be, he figures to give the Steelers more versatility in their secondary.<\/p>\n

DeShon Elliott should man one of their starting safety spots. Jalen Ramsey also looks poised to spend a lot of time at safety, although he may be used more as a chess piece. Brisker has also stated that he\u2019s willing to play multiple spots, too,<\/a> including linebacker. Therefore, he and Ramsey should help the Steelers confuse opposing offenses.<\/p>\n

Brisker has many\u00a0desirable qualities.<\/a> He\u2019s a good tackler, shows a willingness to defend the run, can move around in the secondary, and he\u2019s still only 27 years old. If Brisker improves in coverage and if his ball skills improve, then he could be in for a nice payday after this season.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that could also mean that his time with the Steelers will be short. They\u2019ve already got a lot of money invested in their defense, and they could still pay a few other players, too. They might not be able to afford Brisker if he breaks out like Palazzolo thinks he will.<\/p>\n

Still, a good 2026 season from Brisker would be good for the Steelers. They loaded up this year after once again failing to win a playoff game. Perhaps Brisker will help them end 2026 on a better note.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Mike Tomlin stepped down as the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 head coach, that didn\u2019t stop Omar Khan from adding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[216542,8850,50490,349,1321,99,300262],"class_list":["post-692368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-check-the-mic","tag-chicago-bears","tag-jaquan-brisker","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-steve-palazzolo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}