Pittsburgh Steelers safety DeShon Elliott made his season debut on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, logging 17 snaps after being sidelined for a full year. His return is a massive breath of fresh air for a defense that just cut veteran Rayshawn Jenkins last week after he became a significant liability on the field. Talk about a timely comeback.
The Comeback Kid Clears His First Hurdle
Elliott’s return has the coaching staff absolutely stoked. Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy couldn’t praise him enough during his Monday press conference. “It was great. I look at his journey, and I can’t tell you how much respect I have for him and the way he’s attacked this opportunity,” McCarthy said. They put him on a play count, which makes total sense, wanting to ease him back into things after such a long layoff. “We had him on a play count because we wanted to ease him back into the flow of things, and he needed that chance to get back out there, too.” It sounds like they’re just thrilled to have him back, even if it’s slowly. “I just expect him to continue to grow. But he definitely cleared that first hurdle. We just needed to get him back on the field.”
Even defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was pumped. This was his first time seeing Elliott play live, beyond a bit in preseason. “Happy to see him out there, great energy on the sideline,” Graham said, highlighting what stood out: “The communication stood out. The disguise element. The physicality. It was fun to see him play.” That kind of praise from a DC after just 17 snaps? You know they’ve been missing something big.
A Career Almost Lost
This return is even more incredible when you hear what Elliott went through. He’d been shelved since last October with a significant hamstring/knee injury that needed surgery. On Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast, Elliott opened up about how bad it really was, saying he thought it was a “Nick Chubb type of situation” when he went down. “I thought my career was over,” he admitted in April.
He described it as a “freak accident,” with a guy landing on his knee, causing it to hyperextend. But get this: “the structure of my knee was 100%. I didn’t hurt anything in my knee. I actually tore my hamstring. The hamstring, behind my knee, tore off the bone. So, they had to reattach that.” Can you imagine that kind of injury? The recovery was brutal, with doctors drilling a hole through his fibula to reattach the hamstring. He was in a brace for six weeks, non-weight-bearing for five. “Those first two months were so hard,” he recalled. “I’ve been hurt a couple of times in my career, and that was the worst pain when it came to getting my flexion back.” Now, he’s “running really well, jumping, cutting, doing all the things I need to be doing,” focusing on getting his strength and “pop” back.
With Elliott making huge strides in his recovery and showing those flashes of communication and physicality on Sunday, Pittsburgh’s defense has to feel a renewed sense of purpose. He’s been through the absolute worst, but he’s back, and the Steelers are clearly counting on him to keep growing and make a real difference this season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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