Pittsburgh Steelers Training Camp: Week 3 Stock Report

The Pittsburgh Steelers have completed nearly three weeks of their 2015 training camp and have already played a preseason game, a 14-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

This means the sample size is getting ever larger when it comes to evaluating the team's roster. Which Steelers players' stocks are on the rise and whose are on the decline? Read on to find out.

Stock Up: OL Alejandro Villanueva

Uncredited/Associated Press

Army receiver-turned-defensive end-turned-Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva made his preseason debut with his newest team on Sunday, working as the third-team left tackle when the Steelers took on the Vikings in the Hall of Fame Game. 

Though it's early in his career and there are a number of obstacles between him and a spot on the Steelers 53-man roster, he did have a positive showing for such an inexperienced player.

According to Pro Football Focus, Villanueva played 39 snaps against the Vikings and was the only Steelers offensive player to receive a truly positive grade—a 1.9, primarily because of his plus-1.5 grade in pass protection. Villanueva allowed no sacks, hits or hurries in his limited action.

Villanueva is long and quick, but he has some catching up to do when it comes to the nuances of his position. He won't be the Steelers' starting left tackle for—well, maybe never—but he has shown rapid improvement given that he was a collegiate receiver.

Stock Down: QB Landry Jones

Don Wright/Associated Press

The Steelers gave backup quarterback Landry Jones almost full control of the offense through all four quarters of Sunday night's first preseason game. Aside from a few cameo appearances by Tyler Murphy, all quarterback snaps were played by Jones, who also led the offense in snaps played with 63.

The goal is to see, in his third preseason in Pittsburgh, whether Jones has shown enough improvement to remain on the roster as the third-string quarterback or even the No. 2, in place of Bruce Gradkowski, but Sunday's effort was not good.

Jones did show improvement in the subtle fundamentals of the quarterback position, such as quicker decision-making and better footwork—at least when he was relatively free of pressure. But the stat line was ugly: Jones went 16-of-32 for 135 yards and took two sacks. He led the team on a field-goal scoring drive, but his drought of touchdowns thrown in the preseason still extends back to 2013.

Jones also accounted for two delay of game penalties that could have been more if not for a false start and a timeout. And under pressure—albeit behind a second- and then third-string offensive line (but also against a second- and third-string defense—he struggled the most.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jones' completion percentage dropped to 41.7 percent when under pressure and down to 25 percent on the 13 dropbacks during which he was blitzed. That kind of performance under pressure is not going to help him unseat Gradkowski; if something happens to Ben Roethlisberger, Jones is not going to be able to handle the heat of first-team defenses as a starter.

Stock Up: DL Cam Thomas

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Yes, that Cam Thomas. Thomas was one of the Steelers' defensive standouts in Sunday night's preseason game against the Vikings, and that's good news—last week, the Steelers placed defensive end Clifton Geathers on injured reserve. Geathers was the first, best option on the depth chart at defensive end, and one most likely to push Thomas off the roster.

But now that Geathers is no longer available, the Steelers need Thomas to step up, as he's one of their few reserve defensive linemen with actual, regular-season NFL experience. Thomas graded out positively by Pro Football Focus, particularly in the pass rush, where he totaled two quarterback hits and two hurries.

That still doesn't mean that Thomas has any business playing full time with the first-team defense for any reason other than injury. But getting improvement out of him is necessary now that the Steelers' ranks of experienced defensive linemen have thinned.

Stock Down: QB Tajh Boyd

Don Wright/Associated Press

Landry Jones isn't the only Steelers quarterback whose stock is trending downward at this point in the summer. Tajh Boyd is also in a similar boat, though for different reasons.

Boyd was thought to be Jones' direct competition for the Steelers' third-string quarterback job. At the very least, though he's less experienced, his athletic upside seemed to be enough to push Jones for a roster spot. But if that were the case, wouldn't we have seen him against the Vikings on Sunday?

Instead, Jones took the majority of snaps at quarterback, save for a few designed plays for receiver/quarterback Tyler Murphy. One would assume that the Steelers would have wanted to see a few plays out of Boyd, especially given that the Steelers have five preseason games this summer. But that wasn't the case.

Perhaps this will change when the Steelers take on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday. But it's never good when a healthy backup quarterback sees zero reps in an early preseason game. Boyd's back may be against the wall.

Stock Up: LB Jordan Zumwalt

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Pittsburgh's linebacker depth is one of the defense's stronger suits this summer, which means that 2014 draft pick Jordan Zumwalt has to work that much harder to make an impression. Zumwalt missed his entire rookie season with a groin injury, which puts him one year behind on his development.

It has been a slow start to training camp for Zumwalt, but he's gradually showing improvement. On his 31 snaps played against the Vikings, 20 were as a run defender, and it earned him a positive grade from Pro Football Focus.

And Steelers Depot's Jon Ledyard has also noticed Zumwalt's progress, including improvements both in coverage and against the run. We'll have a better chance to see if he can take this progress to the next step on Friday night.