Pittsburgh Steelers: Recapping the Latest Buzz Heading into Training Camp

The Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp does not begin until July 25, but that doesn't mean news about the team isn't trickling out. After all, the NFL is a 24/7, 365-day enterprise—it's not just limited to the six months when actual games are played.

Here are the five biggest stories surrounding the Steelers as training camp slowly but surely approaches.

Ben Roethlisberger Top 10?

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

To mark the conclusion of the NFL Network's Top 100 Players of 2015 this week, NFL.com's Around the NFL writers presented their own countdowns of the top 10 players in the league. Gregg Rosenthal included Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on his list, ranking him sixth.

Rosenthal wrote: "Roethlisberger has always been an underrated, top-five quarterback. Now he's in a system which is numbers-friendly, so everyone realizes." Roethlisberger is coming off of the best season of his career, one in which he set personal bests in completion percentage and passing yards.

No other writer included Roethlisberger on their lists, though Dan Hanzus did rank Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell seventh, saying, "DeMarco Murray might be the reigning Offensive Player of the Year, but Le'Veon Bell is the more talented, dynamic player. We still think the Steelers would have won the AFC last season with a healthy Bell in the playoffs."

What is surprising, though, is that the NFL's top receiver from 2014, Antonio Brown, is not on any of the writers' lists. Roethlisberger couldn't have had such a productive season without Brown's help but yet, he does not crack the top 10 of these five experts.

Steelers Looking to Host a Super Bowl

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

The Steelers announced last week that they would be exploring putting a bid in for the team—and Heinz Field—to be the host of Super Bowl LVII in 2023. In an interview with Mark Belko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, team president Art Rooney II said, "It's worth throwing our hat in the ring and exploring it. We have not determined that we will actually make a bid."

The NFL will select the teams that will have a right to bid on the 2023 Super Bowl in 2018 and will determine the host in 2019. For now, the Steelers will be assembling a committee to travel to cities like Indianapolis and Minneapolis to take a closer look at what goes into a successful bid.

The league requires no fewer than 30,000 hotel rooms within a 90-minute drive from the host stadium and often makes demands regarding parking spaces, free suites and police cooperation from cities looking to hold a Super Bowl. These are demands the Steelers and the city of Pittsburgh should be able to meet.

Rooney said, "I look at it as a why-not situation. I think we could do a good job in Pittsburgh and, obviously, I think football is a big part of our culture and history and tradition. There are a lot of reasons why we should at least explore it." But it will be a few more years until we will know if Pittsburgh will get to host its first modern-era Super Bowl. 

Any Interest in the Supplemental Draft?

RICHARD SHIRO/Associated Press

The 2015 NFL supplemental draft takes place on Thursday, and seven players are eligible. They are:

• OT Isaiah Battle, Clemson
• DT Dalvon Stuckey, West Georgia
• DE Darrius Caldwell, West Georgia
• DE Eric Eiland, Houston
• TE Sean McQuillan, Connecticut
• DB Kevin Short, Kansas
• WR Adrian Wilkins, North Carolina Central

No player has been selected in the supplemental draft since the Cleveland Browns took wideout Josh Gordon in 2012. Jeff Hartman of Behind the Steel Curtain does not expect the Steelers to make a move on Thursday, but if they do, only one player sticks out—Battle.

Hartman says:

"

Battle started 11 games in 2014 for the Tigers and would be helping the Steelers in a position of need in the future. At offensive tackle, after Marcus Gilbert and Kelvin Beachum, the team has Mike Adams and a handful of other average candidates vying for the backup position. Battle could help solidify the future of the position, even if it is only as a depth player.

"

Further, Beachum and Adams are unrestricted free agents in 2016; Battle could help alleviate the potential losses of both. Hartman, though, thinks the Steelers shouldn't spend more than a Round 5 pick on Battle if they are truly interested, and it's hard to argue with that.

It's been a long time since any player selected in the supplemental draft has been consequential—Gordon nearly got there, but he is now on an indefinite suspension. Plus, Battle would have the added task of trying to play catchup in training camp, having missed out on attending OTAs and minicamp. The Steelers should only make a move if they can do so cheaply.

Big Events Planned for NFL Kickoff

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The Pittsburgh Steelers' season kickoff is also the NFL's season kickoff, with the team traveling to Foxboro to take on the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on Thursday, September 10. And it will truly be a national affair, as reported by Fox Sports' Alex Marvez.

A league source told Marvez that there will be pregame events taking place in the Foxboro area as well as the San Francisco Bay Area. The latter will host the league's yearly pregame concert—artist to be determined. This is a way to tie Santa Clara's Levi's Stadium—host of this year's Super Bowl—into the season kickoff.

The game itself proves to be an exciting one, even if it comes draped with the baggage of the Patriots' deflated ball scandal and Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell's three-game suspension. Pending appeal, the Patriots could be without quarterback Tom Brady, while the Steelers will have to rely on DeAngelo Williams with Bell suspended. 

Steelers' Most-Feared Defender?

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ESPN's Jeremy Fowler—the Steelers' beat writer—asked the other three AFC North beat writers who they believe the Steelers' most feared defensive player is at the moment, especially now that players such as Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor and Brett Keisel have retired. Their answers?

Coley Harvey, Cincinnati Bengals: "James Harrison. Can I end my answer there? Seriously, until he finally retires, Harrison will always be the most feared and intimidating player on his team's defense... Whatever it is that makes him so respected around the league will keep him that way until his career officially ends."

Jamison Hensley, Baltimore Ravens: "Let's go old school with Harrison. Sure, this is going to raise eyebrows because Harrison is 37 and actually retired last year. But there is something that happens to Harrison when he plays the Ravens. He somehow turns back the clock to 2004 and wreaks havoc."

Pat McManamon, Cleveland Browns: "Jarvis Jones and Bud Dupree play the "feared" outside linebacker spots, but they have not arrived yet. It would be tempting to go with Harrison (especially in Cleveland), but he's on the back nine. The best name to go with: Cameron Heyward. Yes, he's an end in a 3-4 scheme, but from that spot he had 7.5 sacks and played well enough to be ranked as the sixth-best end in a 3-4 scheme, per ProFootballFocus.com."

Heyward seems like a strong choice here, as well as inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons. But Harrison can still strike fear in every opponent he faces and is somehow ageless. If every non-Steeler AFC North player was polled on this, Harrison would likely win in a landslide.