Steelers A to Z: Kalon Barnes has elite speed, but can he be an NFL cornerback?
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Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2024 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 14 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
DB KALON BARNES
Experience/age: 2 NFL regular-season games in 2022, age 25
Contract status: $915,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2024
The past: Barnes ran the fastest time of any player who attended the 2022 NFL combine, a scorching 4.23 seconds in the 40-yard dash — the fastest ever run by a non-wide receiver. That surely was the major factor in the Carolina Panthers’ decision to use a seventh-round pick on him that year. But Barnes did not make the team. Cut at the end of the preseason, Barnes joined the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad. The Minnesota Vikings signed him to their active roster that December, and Barnes played nine special-teams snaps over two late-season games. But he was cut the following August. That led to his first tenure with the Steelers — a 12-day stint on the practice squad in September of last year. Barnes spent time on the practice squads of the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns last season before joining the Steelers’ offseason roster via a reserve/future deal.
Hear that the #Vikings are expected to add cornerback Kalon Barnes to their 53-man roster. He will be plucked off of Miami’s practice squad. Contract will run through 2024. Barnes was a #Skol pre-draft visit, ran a blazing 4.22 at the Combine. pic.twitter.com/NelLe8PVpl
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) December 14, 2022
2024 outlook: There is no doubting Barnes has track star speed. Literally. He spent time on the Baylor track team, winning the 100-yard dash at multiple meets as a freshman following a high school career in which he won the Texas high school 100- and 200-meter state championships as both a junior and senior. More important is how Barnes performs on the football field, of course. The 6-foot, 186-pound Barnes was a two-year starter in college at outside corner.
There’s plenty of competition on the Steelers’ depth chart at the position, but Barnes’ proverbial ace in the hole is unmatched speed that perhaps can be locked to deploy by special teams coordinator Danny Smith. That would be Barnes’ best route to stick with the team into the fall — carving out a role on return and coverage units.