He was a third-round pick and a top-100 selection, but there might not be a single member of the Steelers’ 10-man 2026 NFL Draft class who has received less buzz this offseason than former Georgia cornerback Daylen Everette.
When it comes to media attention, Everette has had a few things working against him from the start. Pittsburgh had three third-round picks in 2026, and the other two were a larger-than-life guard with a social-media-famous red mullet, and a high-profile Penn State quarterback
drafted to one day compete for the Steelers’ franchise quarterback gig.
Plus, while Everette’s draft status made him a roster lock and thus never a piece in the bubble narratives over the preseason, there might not be a player more buried on the team’s 53-man roster depth chart at the moment. Despite being an SEC starter less than a year ago, Everette is Pittsburgh’s presumed sixth-string corner in a talented room behind the likes of Joey Porter Jr., Jalen Ramsey, Jamel Dean, Asante Samuel Jr. and Brandin Echols.
Still, the Steelers clearly see something in Everette, who scored a 9.89 Relative Athletic Score pre-draft with solid boundary corner measurables at 6’1, 196 pounds. He drew some rave camp reports. But what did his preseason really look like?
Let’s dive in:
The biggest positive from Everette’s preseason actually had more to do with tackling than coverage. In a pre-draft profile, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein described Everette as “willing in run support but … more of a drag-down tackler,” even listing open-field tackling as one of the Georgia product’s weaknesses.
However, Everette took a number of strides in the right direction in August, with open-field tackling appearing as one of his biggest strengths in the two preseason contests he suited up for.
Everette was fairly quick to trigger downhill and willing to get his hands dirty, and in the third clip above, the Packers could’ve enjoyed a massive gain on the ground if the running back had managed to make Everette miss in space.
Higher-level NFL competition could obviously result in a different story for Everette’s tackling, but even having a cornerback willing to put some effort towards that part of the game is a net positive for defenses. It’s likely to increase his standing in the eyes of the coaching staff as well.
In coverage, Everette was a bit more of a mixed bag.
In the first clip below, you can see him lock down an in-breaker and use his physicality to disrupt the wide receiver. In the second, his 4.38 speed makes it look easy as he blankets a vertical route downfield.
There were some rougher moments as well. While I won’t pretend to know all the zone rules of a Steelers secondary that actually displayed a number of different ideas in the preseason, in the first clip below Everette appears to miss a wheel route from the running back as a deep-half defender in a Tampa 2 concept. There were a few plays in zone where he seemed to drift a little too much in coverage.
In the second clip below, while he is expecting some more underneath help, his cushion and smooth-not-twitchy playing style allow an easy chunk completion for the Packers on an out route. And in the third, his speed shines keeping up with another deep route, but he gets a little turned around looking for the ball and allows the receiver to separate.
Against the Bills, Everette was tested with deep crossers in man coverage twice — a tough concept to defend in that scheme. The first time, he navigated it well, showing off his recovery athleticism, while on the second, a nifty route led to a natural pick he couldn’t overcome — but it’s preseason football, and Everette was bailed out by an overthrow.
Ultimately, there weren’t many truly bad reps from Everette over the preseason, with even his losses being tough situations for a cornerback in the first place.
After just two partial preseason games — and cornerback isn’t a position that’s easy to evaluate on a limited sample size of snaps — there’s still plenty to learn about Everette. But the good news is that he shouldn’t be forced into the Steelers’ starting lineup before he’s ready.
For now, Pittsburgh’s forgotten rookie looks like a rising depth piece who should be able to contribute on the boundary at some point. And his standout physicality over the summer should spill over into his expected work on special teams this fall.
