Could Dennis Dixon Be The Steelers Top Back Up This Year?

In his Senior season at Oregon, Dennis Dixon showed he had the potential to not only be an NFL quarterback, but the potential to be a great one.

Starting his senior season, Dixon was considered by many to not only be a Heisman Trophy favorite, but the best signal caller in the NCAA.

In the second game of his Senior year, Dixon led the Oregon Ducks to a surprising 39-7 win at Michigan.  Completing 16 of 25 passes for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions.  Dixon also added 76 yards on 16 rushes with one score.

Everything came crashing down in a November 15th game against Arizona, when Dixon tore his ACL.

Instead of possibly being taken in the first round, Dixon had to wait until the fifth to hear his name called.

Even then, Dixon could not perform completely until training camp started.  He missed out on valuable practice time, which is so important, especially to a rookie QB.

It is also important to note that at no time was Dixon placed on the practice squad.  The Steelers could have potentially lost him to another team by going that route.  Instead they placed Batch on injured reserve when his injury was healed in about a month.

The Steelers were not ready to throw Dixon into the fire too soon.  When Charlie Batch went down with a broken collarbone, the Steelers brought in Byron Leftwich to serve as the primary back up to Ben Roethlisberger.

With both Batch and Leftwich unrestricted free agents, neither having been resigned by the Steelers yet, could it be that Dennis Dixon is ready to take over the second spot on the depth chart?

Make no mistakes, either Leftwich or Batch, and possibly both will be back next year.  But there is no lock on either of them still being on the team when the Steelers host the Titans in the opening week of the NFL.

Every team goes into training camp with four quarterbacks, so as not to get tired arms with the ones you keep.

Dixon has been staying after in practice, working with WR Limas Sweed, learning timing, and all of the other things he was not able to do last year at this time.

Dixon also has something that neither Batch or Leftwich has; freakish speed.

When the Steelers first drafted Dixon, I believed that he would eventually develop into a "slash" type of player.  When asked about this, Dixon replied,

"I wouldn't mind," Dixon told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "If my name was called to get on the field, whether it's as slash or drop-back, whatever, I'd be happy. If my name's called, I'm ready."

Expect to see more of Dennis Dixon this year.  Hopefully, it will not be because of injury to Big Ben, but because the Steelers have found the diamond in the rough.