Steelers camp: Juan Thornhill looks to prove Browns wrong, Broderick Jones injured

New York Times

9 hours ago

LATROBE, Pa. — Steelers safety Juan Thornhill was relaxing at home in Nashville, Tenn., about a month ago, taking care of his new baby and enjoying the final weeks of the offseason, when he got the jarring news: Pittsburgh had traded All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins.
'I thought it was a joke at first,' Thornhill said.
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Initially, when the Steelers signed Thornhill, it appeared he'd be the third safety on the depth chart behind DeShon Elliott and Fitzpatrick. While the Steelers use three-safety 'big' nickel defenses regularly, Thornhill still would have been something of a role player, providing depth, experience and versatility.
Not anymore.
Essentially overnight, Thornhill was bumped up the depth chart to be the starting free safety in at least the nickel defense. Considering the Steelers are only in their base defense for about 20 percent of the snaps, that likely means Thornhill is now penciled in as the starter on 80 percent of the plays — or more.
'That's just me having to step up and play a little bit more,' Thornhill said. 'I think I'm very capable. I'm a great player. I can make a lot of plays.'
Cleveland Browns fans might disagree. A second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Thornhill began his career as a meaningful contributor on two Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl winners. During his first four years, he intercepted eight passes, racked up 234 tackles and started six playoff games. In 2023, he parlayed that production into a three-year, $21 million contract with the Browns. The way Thornhill tells it, numerous injuries — and the desire to play through pain — resulted in some rough moments.
The worst? In Week 11 last season in New Orleans, Saints quarterback Derek Carr connected with receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Browns fans saw Thornhill giving what they deemed to be less than 100 percent effort and nicknamed him 'Jog Thornhill.'
Jog thornhill after being cut by the Steelers too🤣pic.twitter.com/xPdqKmB2W6
— Dillion Gabriel over Social Media Sanders (@pfmrorl) May 6, 2025
'It did bother me,' Thornhill said. 'Because that's not me as a player. They saw that one clip of me, and they (thought of me) as a player that doesn't play hard for his team. But, yeah, it was one clip. I was exhausted.'
The Browns cut the safety following his 2024 campaign. Now part of a Steelers defense full of Pro Bowlers, Thornhill is one of the players with the most to prove, making him a must-watch player in camp.
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'You can't read into what the media is saying about me,' Thornhill said. 'Because if you sit back and you watch the film of what I did in Cleveland, I had a lot of good plays. Some of the Cleveland people just tried to bash my name a little bit. If you sit there and really watch the film, I made a lot of plays and was very productive in that defense.'
Through the first four days of camp, Thornhill has been running with the first-team defense consistently. In addition to playing almost all of the nickel snaps, he also took first-team reps in the base defense Saturday, when Darius Slay got a veteran day off and Jalen Ramsey shifted to outside corner. To this point, Thornhill has looked solid, showing good closing speed and instincts. During the Seven Shots drill to open practice on Sunday, DK Metcalf ran a corner route from the slot. Thornhill stayed in good position to break up the pass and let out a celebratory yell.
While Thornhill has done his part to keep his starting job in the secondary, the safety position is becoming an area worth watching on a team with few true position battles. Even if Thornhill stays atop the depth chart, the Steelers will need to sort out who backs him up at free safety.
To start camp, undrafted rookie Sebastian Castro was taking the second-team reps alongside strong safety Miles Killebrew. This week, the Steelers added another contender when they signed Chuck Clark. It remains to be seen if Clark is simply competition for Castro or if he could eventually push Thornhill for first-team reps in sub-packages. A seven-year veteran, Clark played his first six seasons in Baltimore, where he often played in the same secondary as Elliott.
Clark endured an ACL injury in 2023 before joining the Jets last season. He started 12 games in 2024 and made 69 tackles. Going from a starter to fighting for a roster spot is a new experience.
'This is a first for me to come in this late, having to pick up the playbook,' Clark said. 'I know football, that's for sure. At the end of the day, it's just putting terminology to it in a different scheme, different concepts. But I know football.'
Perhaps no player is facing more pressure to perform this season than 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones. He came into camp about 20 pounds lighter than last season at 310 pounds, which should help him regain some of the mobility that's a staple of his game.
However, on Sunday, he left practice with a lower-body soft-tissue injury that coach Mike Tomlin is classifying as day to day. After individual periods on Sunday, trainers wrapped Jones' groin/hamstring area. Time will tell if he's feeling healthy enough to compete on Tuesday, when the real hitting starts and we can really start evaluating the offensive line.
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Given Jones' inconsistency throughout his first two seasons, the backup tackle job will be an important position on the roster. Dylan Cook stepped in for Jones, perhaps an indication that he's the front-runner to win the swing tackle job, at least for now.
In other injury news from Sunday, undrafted fullback DJ Thomas-Jones sustained an apparent foot or ankle injury and left practice on a cart. Tomlin said it's a 'more significant' injury. Receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig is also day to day with soft tissue injury.
Medical staff working on FB/ TE DJ Thomas-Jones' left foot/ ankle area. He's leaving practice on a cart. pic.twitter.com/3kI4lgYouZ
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) July 27, 2025
Tempers flared on Sunday when the Steelers practiced in helmets and shoulder pads. Backup center Ryan McCollum and inside linebacker Cole Holcomb got into a heated wrestling match. Both players eventually ended up with their helmets ripped off. Outside linebacker Nick Herbig was also involved in the scrum. There should be more of that next week when the Steelers start tackling ball carriers to the ground.
We won't really know how the Steelers' new defensive linemen look until next week. But in the lower-contact settings, fifth-round pick Yahya Black has shown an ability to bat down passes at the line of scrimmage. During Sunday's practice alone, he deflected a pair of Mason Rudolph pass attempts.
'It's something that we really value culturally,' Tomlin said. 'Obviously, I think Cam (Heyward) probably led all the interior defensive linemen in the league last year. (Keeanu) Benton was also very high. We work at it. (Black) has an aptitude for it, and hopefully it continues.'
For the second day in a row, the defense won the Seven Shots drills 4-3. Aaron Rodgers completed two of his four passes during the period. First, he found tight end Jonnu Smith on an out route to start the drill. Later, Rodgers connected with tight end Pat Freiermuth on an over-the-ball route.
The two incompletions from Rodgers were the aforementioned pass breakup by Thornhill and a missed connection with Roman Wilson, with Elliott in good coverage.