Aug 30, 2017 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had a cornerback make the Pro Bowl team since 1997, the year future Hall of Famer Rod Woodson made his seventh, and final, appearance as a member of the franchise.

And because the Steelers have been a perennial playoff contender, they haven’t had a lot of opportunities to take cornerbacks in the first round of the draft.

On Wednesday, they made a move to not only acquire a cornerback who is a former first-round draft pick, but one who has been selected to the Pro Bowl twice in his career.

Just hours after he was released by the Browns when they were unable to find a trade partner, cornerback Joe Haden and the Steelers agreed to a three-year, $27-million contract that will pay him $7 million this season after passing a physical.

Haden, 28, had been scheduled to earn $11 million in Cleveland and still counts $3.2 million in salary cap space in each of the next two seasons for the Browns.

The seven-year veteran will join a roster the Steelers feel is ready to contend for the Super Bowl after reaching the AFC Championship last season.

Haden, a seven-year veteran who was the seventh pick in the 2010 draft, has never appeared in a playoff game. He was a college teammate of Steelers offensive linemen Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert at Florida, where he helped the team win a national championship.

Haden met the Steelers Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., where they play the Carolina Panthers in the final preseason game.

Haden will not play in that game but could be ready when the Steelers open the regular season Sept. 10, ironically, at Cleveland.

Haden was signed to a five-year, $68-million contract extension by Cleveland in 2014 but has had his past two seasons wrecked by injuries. Concussion issues forced him to miss all but five games in 2015. Last season, he played through groin issues that eventually required offseason surgery and forced him to miss three games.

Despite appearing in 13 games, Haden still managed three interceptions and 11 pass defenses. He has 19 career interceptions.

Artie Burns led the Steelers cornerbacks with three interceptions, and Ross Cockrell had a team-best 14 passes defensed last season.

Haden is expected to push Cockrell out of the starting lineup for the Steelers and play opposite Burns.

Cockrell, signed in 2015 after being released by Buffalo, received a mid-level tender offer from the Steelers as a restricted free agent.

But the team also flirted with some other cornerbacks in free agency, eventually signing veteran Coty Sensabaugh after selecting Cameron Sutton in the third round and Brian Allen in the fifth round of the draft.

Sensabaugh and Cockrell split time with the first-team defense in last week’s preseason game against Indianapolis.

Veteran William Gay and first-year player Mike Hilton are competing for the job as the slot cornerback.

Haden is the second veteran acquired by the Steelers this week. On Tuesday, they sent a fourth-round draft pick to San Francisco for tight end Vance McDonald and a fifth-round draft pick.

The Steelers had $10.5 million in cap space after adding McDonald to their roster and would still like to reach a contract extension with defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Tuitt will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.

Odds and end zones

Rookie Josh Dobbs is expected to start at quarterback for the Steelers against the Panthers and play most of the game. … The Steelers have 12 sacks in their first three preseason games. … NFL teams must trim rosters to 53 players by 4 p.m. Saturday. … The Steelers still await word from the NFL regarding the status of receiver Martavis Bryant. Bryant has been conditionally reinstated by the NFL after being suspended for the 2016 season for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy but has not been cleared for the regular season.