(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
A few weeks ago free agent safety Malik Hooker visited with the Steelers but left the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex without a deal. Hooker has also met with the Cowboys and Dolphins this offseason, but it appears that Hooker is going to wait things out until he decides on signing with a team.
"It’s about fitting into the perfect system to be able to go out there and show my talents,” Hooker said on SiriusXM NFL Radio last week via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “There was a couple of teams I visited with that I thought highly of. Now, it’s just a matter of taking my time with it. Training camp’s next month, not next week, so I’ve got time to be able to still tune up things and still hopefully go on more visits to see what else teams are talking about. Maybe meet with some teams I’ve met with before hopefully.”
Hooker said he feels “capable” of playing right now, but that there’s still “little stuff” he needs to get back to being the player he was before his injury. Hooker played just two games last year before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury.
Hooker is a New Castle, Pa. native and was a first-round pick out of Ohio State by the Colts in 2017, but he has been plagued by injuries in his four years in Indianapolis, which is why they didn't pick up his fifth-year option.
In his four seasons with the Colts, he started just 35 of 36 games. When healthy, however, Hooker has been productive when it comes to getting interceptions, recording at least two interceptions in each of his first three seasons. Being a ball hawk was what he was known for coming out of Ohio State.
The Steelers could definitely use some depth at the safety position to back up Terrell Edmunds and Minkah Fitzpatrick, but it would have to be a cheap deal for Hooker, as his injury history is just too worrisome. The Steelers also brought in safety Karl Joseph for a visit back in April, but he ended up signing with the Raiders. So, it appears that the Steelers are trying to get another safety on the team before the start of the 2021 season.