How much does Juan Thornhill have left in the tank? That's the question that NFL teams are going to be asking over the next 24 hours after learning that the veteran safety was recently released by the Pittsburgh Steelers after a rather uninspired half-season in the AFC North.
Thornhill signed a one-year free-agent deal with Pittsburgh last March to bolster the secondary and provide championship experience for Teryl Austin's defense. The entire unit has disappointed through the first 9 games for the 5-4 Steelers, and now they've singled out Thornhill in the hopes of improving the unit. It also sends a warning shot to other lackluster performers.
The Steelers are filling Thornhill's spot with the signing of safety Sebastian Castro on waivers following his release from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As for where Thornhill goes, that's anybody's guess.
Teams already familiar to Thornhill are the Kansas City Chiefs, who drafted him in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and the Cleveland Browns, who gave him life-changing money in the form of a three-year deal worth up to $21 million in 2023.
Juan Thornhill is hoping a fourth NFL team will extend him a chance to play after his release from the Steelers.
For the Chiefs, Thornhill was a reliable safety with 20 pass deflections and 8 interceptions in four seasons. However, the franchise let him walk in free agency after his rookie deal expired—no surprise to anyone in Chiefs Kingdom since the writing was on the wall for a full year. The Chiefs had already drafted Bryan Cook one year prior, and Justin Reid was in place as the other starting safety. The Chiefs also added Mike Edwards to fill out the position with their own free-agent signing in '23.
This has been Thornhill's first season as a rotational safety instead of a full-time starter, although he's still played in 49 percent of all snaps for the Steelers so far. Some team is going to bite on Thornhill's ability to step in as a physical defender, even if age and injuries have lowered his ceiling. That said, things didn't end well for Thornhill in Cleveland either—the team released him after only two seasons—and given his shorter-than-expected stint in Pittsburgh, expectations might be lower than ever.
A reunion with the Chiefs is highly unlikely. K.C. has a young quartet that they seem to like in Cook, Chamarri Conner, Jaden Hicks, and Christian Roland-Wallace. Despite the lack of experience, there are plenty of players with extensive Super Bowl experience to surround younger guys who are learning the ropes.
As for Thornhill, he'll sit and wonder whether a fourth home in the NFL will come calling as teams hit the stretch run looking for help.