Before his first organized team activities with the Steelers after being drafted by the team in 2017, cornerback Cameron Sutton made permanent his love of horror movies.
He went to a tattoo parlor on the South Side and had his left leg adorned with tattoos depicting slasher films and other gory cinema.
Those images can be easily hidden beneath his football padding and uniform as was the case during the second day of OTAs Wednesday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
But it’s impossible to hide what’s staring you right in the face, which for the second consecutive day was the mask of Jason Voorhees anytime Sutton turned in your direction.
The new visor on Sutton’s helmet features a sticker of the blood-spattered hockey goalie mask synonymous with Voorhees and the “Friday the 13th” horror franchise.
“It’s kind of one of those things. Obviously, you have to have some swag out there on the field,” Sutton said. “You look good, feel good, play good.”
The “Friday the 13th” series isn’t Sutton’s favorite fright-filled entertainment, but it happened to be the visor he came across online and purchased in the offseason.
Sutton also has seen each movie in the “Halloween” film series and grew up enjoying film adaptations of Stephen King’s books and said he can watch a grisly movie “any day, any night.”
But regarding the visor as a kind of fashion statement, Sutton said he isn’t the type of person to just buy it “for the looks or anything,” something disputed by his new secondary teammate, cornerback Steven Nelson.
“I was like, ‘Dang, I’ve never seen a visor like that,’ ” Nelson said. “That’s probably [in] the top-five best visors ever made, maybe. I think it’s more like a fashion statement.”
But entering his third NFL season, Sutton also pointed to the similarities between the perception of his visor’s image and how he wants opponents to view him.
“You want to be a player that teams and players across from you fear,” Sutton said. “That see you as a playmaker, see you as someone that can change the game.”
Opportunities have been limited for Sutton, a third-round draft pick from Tennessee in 2017, to become this type of player. As a rookie, he missed most of training camp and began the regular season on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury, which limited him to five games played in which he made a total of four tackles.
Last season, he appeared in 15 of 16 regular-season games but made just one start, as he also did in 2017. His first and only career interception came in 2018 opener at Cleveland, as he intercepted quarterback Tyrod Taylor in the closing seconds of regulation to prevent a potential winning score for the Browns in a contest that eventually ended in a tie.
But the play failed to spark a notable season for Sutton, who spent the offseason focusing on balance and stability training, as well as transitioning out of his breaks.
“It’s never going to help you if you’re doing the same things, have the same routine,” Sutton said. “If you’re doing the same things, you’re not helping your game.”
Especially for a player who has experienced hamstring issues. The lateral and vertical cuts Sutton practiced during the winter and spring — which helped him refine the way he transitioned movement in his hips — were done with the goal of solidifying his spot as a versatile player at both the inside and outside cornerback.
“This year is just that year,” Sutton said. “I’m excited about it. Excited about the plans they have for me. Going into the year, it’s just my job to make it happen.”
Sutton said he doesn’t feel any extra pressure placed on him, so he decided to have fun instead.
He knows he won’t be allowed to wear his new visor during games due to the NFL’s uniform policy, but he hopes to break it out for warmups. He previously used a dark-tinted visor and also owns a gold one and a chrome one, describing them as “a couple different flavors I can throw on anytime.”
But when Sutton whipped out his newest visor for the first time Tuesday, it attracted attention, buzz, and chatter from nearly all his teammates.
“When he put it on, everybody knew what it was,” cornerback Mike Hilton said. “It definitely sticks out, everybody wants to see what’s on the visor and you get a close enough look and you see it’s Jason. That’s pretty smooth.”
Cameron Drummond: cdrummond@post-gazette.com.
First Published: May 22, 2019, 7:15 p.m.
