Steel Mill Gameday: Talk about Joe Haden, watch Jacob Hagen tonight
While Steelers Nation rightfully will spend Thursday abuzz about its newest player, there is in fact an actual football game to be played in a stadium in the evening.
You can talk all you want about Joe Haden; Jacob Hagen is who you'll be seeing plenty of in the secondary against the Carolina Panthers.
Not as sexy. But in the context of constructing the final roster spots, just as important.
Hagen has played 90 defensive snaps through three preseason games (recording eight tackles and a forced fumble), and he figures to play a bunch more in the Steelers' preseason finale Thursday.
Hagen is by no means has assured a spot on the 53-man roster – he perhaps remains more likely to spend a second consecutive season on the Steelers' practice squad. But the big safety out of Liberty University spent virtually all of training camp as the “next man up” as the Steelers' No. 5 safety.
If he makes the team he'd join Robert Golden (2012) and Jordan Dangerfield (last season) as undrafted free agents who comprise part of the current Steelers depth chart at safety.
“‘Coach T' (Mike Tomlin) says it all the time: ‘You're not here by accident; you're here for a reason,'” Hagen said. “They don't care by what means you get here – if you're making plays, then you're a good football player. And that's all that matters. So you make plays, you stay around.”
Golden learned that when he made the team as a rookie undrafted free agent; two years later, he was a special teams captain and not long after that he was starting 10 games on defense in 2015-16.
Dangerfield also learned that Tomlin is a man of his word. After three years of practice-squad time (two with the Steelers), Dangerfield made the Steelers' 53-man roster out of his fourth NFL training camp last year.
Hagen is in his third preseason, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound player's second with the Steelers.
“He's a guy who works hard; he's a ballplayer, you know?” Dangerfield said of Hagen. “He's been putting the work in, and hopefully the ball rolls for him this year.”
It was during last season's preseason finale against Carolina – a year ago this week – that Dangerfield cemented his spot. He started, played 71 percent of the defensive snaps (second-most on the team) and had a team-high 10 tackles plus a quarterback hit.
Hagen enters this Carolina game with the inside track to earn the same No. 5 safety job this season. The Steelers have shown they like his game by the simple fact they have kept him in their employ (on the offseason roster or practice squad) for 19-plus consecutive months now.
“No doubt when they keep you around, that's a good thing,” said Hagen, who's comfortable at both strong and free safety. “You've got to produce and be productive – that's how you stay around, especially as an undrafted guy. So the practice squad, it's good for me to learn the playbook and learn the system and everything they do.”
Hagen spent his rookie 2015 training camp with the Rams after signing as an undrafted free agent out of the FCS level. The Steelers signed him to a reserve/futures deal after that 2015 season ended.
Safety is a position seemingly tailor-made for special teams (in theory, the best combination of speed and tackling ability), so Hagen's proficiency there might be more important than what he shows on tape as a defender. That Hagen forced a fumble on a Giants kickoff return three weeks ago certainly didn't hurt his cause.
Married and expecting a daughter in December, maturity certainly isn't an issue for Hagen. With no additions to the safety corps following the offseason departure of Shamarko Thomas, in theory, a 53-man roster spot is there for the taking.
“Every day you have to show you can do your job first and be in the right places – and then make plays on top of that,” Hagen said. “And if you do that, you've got a good shot.”
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
