![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2229765370.jpg\")
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Things often change very quickly in the\u00a0NFL. For safety\u00a0Juan Thornhill, the veteran went from playing a starter level amount of snaps to not at all with the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers. Then on Monday,\u00a0the team released him\u00a0to claim an undrafted rookie free agent off waivers.<\/p>\n
Head coach Mike Tomlin offered an explanation to reporters Tuesday on the logic behind that decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, the play wasn\u2019t up to snuff. [Sebastian] Castro was available to us. We went through the team development process with Castro,\u201d\u00a0Tomlin told the media. \u201cWe thought he had a good camp, good preseason. He played his tail off in that practice against the Bucs. I think that\u2019s why they stole him from us. We had an opportunity to reacquire him. We\u2019ve absorbed some attrition since he left, so it was an opportunity to get him back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more about Castro and less about Juan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The end result, though, is the Steelers released a two-time Super Bowl champion safety in his seventh NFL season. In exchange, the team added a safety,\u00a0Sebastian Castro, who has never played a defensive snap in the league.<\/p>\n
Tomlin tried to back track a little with his initial comment, concluding that the safety move the team made Monday was more about Castro. And at 25 years old, the rookie, although undrafted, probably does have more future upside than Thornhill.<\/p>\n
But most pundits focused on the initial response Tomlin gave about Thornhill\u2019s play not being \u201cup to snuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sporting News\u2019 Mike Moraitis referred\u00a0to Tomlin\u2019s answer on the veteran safety\u2019s play as \u201cbrutally honest.\u201d\u00a0Fansided\u2019s Nick Halden called\u00a0the response \u201ca rather damaging sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the grades at Pro Football Focus, Tomlin\u2019s assessment wasn\u2019t wrong. The PFF player grades have Thornhill rated the second-worst defender who has played a snap for the Steelers this season.<\/p>\n
Thornhill posted a 35.9 grade in coverage (out of 100) and 36.9 player grade overall with Pittsburgh. Some pundits have argued PFF\u2019s grading system can be flawed. But even if those grades are a little too harsh for Thornhill, the PFF system doesn\u2019t miss that badly.<\/p>\n
Clearly, Thornhill didn\u2019t play particularly well for the Steelers.<\/p>\n
BOSTON, MA \u2013<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n