close

Steelers make trade for CB Boykin

By Jim Wexell for The 4 min read

LATROBE — The Pittsburgh Steelers are learning the nuances of playing cover-2 in their secondary and helped that cause Saturday night by trading a fifth-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for cornerback Brandon Boykin.

Boykin is a classic cover-2 corner who wanted to play more and to play for a coach with whom he could communicate better.

The Eagles wanted Boykin to be taller and to stop complaining about a lack of playing time.

Both got their wish, and so did the Steelers.

“They got me because they know I can make plays,” said Boykin. “They feel like I can help. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Boykin is a 5-9 1/2, 185-pounder who started three years at Georgia and made nine interceptions and returned five kicks for touchdowns. He also ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run as a running back who played on both sides of the ball his senior season.

Boykin was knocked for his size coming out, but showed quick feet and an explosive burst and was considered by many teams to be a second-round talent. However, a compound fracture of the fibula in the Senior Bowl knocked Boykin down to the fourth round, where the Eagles drafted him in 2012.

Boykin was a starter by his second year and intercepted six passes to finish second in the NFL. But he lost his starting job the following season and intercepted only one pass as the slot corner in sub-packages. Boykin told a local reporter that he felt Eagles coach Chip Kelly favored taller cornerbacks, and the current Eagles’ roster certainly bears that out.

Formerly the shortest cornerback on the team, Boykin leaves a team that has six cornerbacks 6-0 or taller. The Steelers have only Cortez Allen.

Fuel was thrown on the fire after Boykin was traded to the Steelers and he told a Philadelphia reporter that Kelly was “uncomfortable around grown men of our culture.”

It provided fodder on the Internet for talk of racism, but Boykin explained his comment to Pittsburgh reporters Sunday afternoon.

“I’m not saying he’s a racist at all,” Boykin said. “That’s not what I said. I think that was kind of taken out of context. When you’re a player, you want to be able to relate to your coach, no matter what, outside of football. So when we’re not talking football scheme, I want to be able to talk to you about whatever. There were times where he just wouldn’t talk to people. If you were walking down the hallway, he wouldn’t say anything to you. I don’t know what that is. I’m not saying he’s a racist in any way. I’m saying that as a player I want to be able to relate to my coach a little bit better and I felt like a lot of guys in that locker room feel the same way.”

To that end, Boykin said he heard good things about Mike Tomlin from former college teammate Jarvis Jones, and former Eagles teammates Brad Wing and Alejandro Villanueva.

“They told me it’s a great place, a great atmosphere, ‘you’re going to have fun, you’re going to learn a lot, but we’re going to work hard,'” Boykin said. “As a player, as a guy I consider a veteran, that’s all you want is a respectful environment, somewhere that you can gel with guys and be able to work toward that common goal of a championship.”

For a team that’s working to make the cover-2 its defensive staple, Boykin fits as a scrappy, defensive playmaker. But of course he’s not the prototypical Steelers cover-3, safety-style, run-stopping corner of the Dick LeBeau era.

Boykin is an emotionally charged young player in the final year of his rookie contract with plenty to prove. He showed his enthusiasm for the deal on Sunday when he tweeted a Terrible Towel.

“My first NFL game at Philadelphia was against them and I remember being in our stadium seeing those towels waving around. That’s a vivid memory in my mind,” he said. “Just knowing that fan base is big, what it means, just the reputation that surrounds it, I’m excited to be a part of it because I feel like we share the same mentality.

“This atmosphere is awesome,” Boykin added. “I can already tell it’s really cool and it’s exciting and it’s going to be fun.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today