Predicting Pittsburgh Steelers' Top Position Battles This Offseason
One of the most exciting things to keep an eye on once NFL teams start convening for their offseason practices and training camps are the positional battles that inevitably take place and play out. With players added and subtracted during free agency and a whole new crop of rookies brought on via the draft (and the days that follow it), depth-chart pecking orders inevitably change.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have six major positional battles to watch this summer. While there could be more that reveal themselves as workouts turn to practices and practices become fully padded preseason games, these six seem the most likely to change the face of the Steelers' depth chart from 2016's iteration to how it will be organized for 2017.
Cornerback
1 of 6
Though it is early in the process, it does appear that the Steelers are close to arriving at their trio of starting cornerbacks for the year. Artie Burns and Ross Cockrell will be working on the outside, while it may be safe to pencil in 2017 third-round draft pick Cameron Sutton as the man to work in the slot.
But there will be numerous other corners trying to knock the rookie out of that position, and the Steelers certainly have the volume of players for that to take place.
William Gay is trying to get back on the field in a significant manner for Pittsburgh after a benching last year. Free-agent signing Coty Sensabaugh is also well-suited for work in the slot. And Senquez Golson, the team's 2015 second-round draft pick, will be fighting for his NFL life after missing his first two years with foot and shoulder injuries. Nothing will be handed to Sutton, nor will he be able to earn a starting job without a fight this summer.
This year, it appears that the Steelers will be doing more man-to-man work in the secondary in order to shore up what has been a bend-but-don't-break passing defense in recent years. Reducing the bending is Sutton's forte—which is why Pittsburgh drafted him—but how he can hold up against the speed and skill sets of NFL-quality receivers will be the real test of whether he's ready for such a big role or if someone else will have to stand up.
Tight End
2 of 6
A year ago, the battle for being the Steelers' top tight end was supposed to be one of the biggest of training camp. The Steelers had incumbent Jesse James vying for playing time with dynamic pass-catcher Ladarius Green, who was the most notable of Pittsburgh's 2016 free-agency signings.
But an ankle injury kept Green from the practice field most of the summer—and most of the first part of the season. And once Green did appear in a regular-season game, in Week 9 against the Dallas Cowboys, he was only healthy for six weeks before suffering a concussion that ended his year.
Still, Green's 18 catches for 304 yards and a score belied just what kind of help he can provide the Steelers offense when he is healthy, and now that Green was active in the team's OTAs last week, James cannot feel confident that he will be the team's leader in tight end snaps played in 2017.
James certainly was a year ago, appearing in 78.9 percent of the team's offensive snaps, compared to 12.9 percent for the injury-limited Green. Now, it will depend on James being a more reliable receiving option, while Green will need to prove he can be a versatile and, most importantly, available weapon for Pittsburgh's offense.
There are other tight ends who will also be trying to stick on Pittsburgh's roster. David Johnson remains in place as a primary blocking option but could feel pressure from a pair of undrafted rookies in Scott Orndoff and Ryan Malleck. Xavier Grimble was a good receiving option a year ago; though he only appeared in 18.2 of the Steelers' offensive snaps, he had 11 catches for 118 yards and two scores.
While the James vs. Green standoff is the main one to watch as the summer unfolds, all six tight ends currently on the roster will be facing pressure from their fellow position-mates. Figuring out the final depth chart could take until the 53-man roster cutdown deadline.
Backup Quarterback
3 of 6
The time for the Steelers to start thinking about who will take over for starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is becoming less of a far-off concern with each passing season. This will be Roethlisberger's 14th year in the NFL—all of which has been spent with the Steelers—but 2017 isn't about who his eventual successor will be, but rather who will be backing him up for the year.
Landry Jones, a Steelers' fourth-round draft pick in 2013, has been behind Roethlisberger in some capacity his entire career, finally being promoted to the primary backup in 2015. He's appeared in 16 regular-season games with four starts, completing 60.3 percent of his passes for 1,071 yards and seven touchdowns compared to six interceptions.
Though Jones was re-signed to a two-year, $4.4 million deal this spring, the Steelers also chose to dip their toes back into the quarterback game in the 2017 draft, selecting Tennessee's Joshua Dobbs in, yes, the fourth round.
Dobbs is a different style of quarterback than Jones; though a spread-offense passer in college, he also was asked to work through his target projections, making him a bit more NFL-ready than some of his other spread counterparts. He's also mobile, something that cannot be said about Jones, with Dobbs rushing a total of 438 times for 2,160 yards and 32 scores in college.
That difference in style is what could ultimately give Dobbs the edge over Jones this summer. And though Jones has the experience advantage, having been steeped in Steelers coordinator Todd Haley's system for what is now his fifth year, Dobbs is nothing if not smart (his study of rocket science at Tennessee is but one example).
Roethlisberger has missed 25 regular-season starts over the course of his career and has completed a full 16-game regular season just three times. For Pittsburgh, the matter of the backup quarterback position is more important than for some other teams. So the Steelers need to make sure they make the right choice between Dobbs and Jones this summer, especially as it's unlikely that the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart will even dress for many games.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Long Snapper
4 of 6
This offseason does not mark the first time the Steelers brought in competition for long snapper Greg Warren, who has been with the team since 2005. But this may be the one young challenger who could win the battle.
The Steelers used their 2017 sixth-round draft pick on the position, selecting Louisville's Colin Holba. It seemed a curious use of a draft asset, especially considering the likelihood the Steelers could have gotten him as an undrafted free agent. But clearly Holba was the best player available still on their draft board, something that sheds some light on Warren's short- and long-term futures in Pittsburgh.
Though Warren may win out yet again, the 35-year old may soon (or even currently) be thinking about life after football. The Steelers are at least ready for Warren to face real competition for his job, with general manager Kevin Colbert saying that (h/t Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette): "Not many long snappers come along that we believe are draftable. ... And, when we see one, we want to add him in the mix just like we would any other position and provide competition for Greg [Warren]. Colin certainly fit that bill, and that's why we pulled the trigger when we did."
Colbert went on to praise Holba's size (6'4", 248 lbs), which makes him also suited for blocking duties when the opportunity presents itself.
As a sixth-round pick, if Holba doesn't unseat Warren, it won't be a major loss on an investment for the Steelers. And if Holba does, then the Steelers could have in him a new, younger Warren who can hold down the long-snapping responsibilities for another 13 years.
Wide Receiver
5 of 6
Even without the Steelers selecting USC's JuJu Smith-Schuster in the second round of the 2017 draft, everything was already pointing to a logjam at the receiver position that would have to shake out by way of positional battles over the summer.
Martavis Bryant was reinstated from his indefinite suspension just prior to April's draft. Antonio Brown, Eli Rogers, Cobi Hamilton, Sammie Coates, Darrius Heyward-Bey and Demarcus Ayers all caught passes for the Steelers in 2016 and all remain on the roster at present. And the Steelers also added Justin Hunter in free agency; with Smith-Schuster included, that makes for 10 wideouts battling for, at most, six roster spots this year.
Brown, Bryant, Rogers and Smith-Schuster seem to be locks to make the roster (granted, of course, that Bryant stays out of trouble and doesn't get banned from the NFL in a more permanent way). The other two spots will be hotly contested, with Heyward-Bey leaning on his speed and his special teams contributions, Hunter on his ability to move the chains, and Hamilton and Ayers on the ability they showed in 2016 to adapt and to help the offense. Coates, meanwhile, needs to prove he can stay healthy and improve his reliability catching the ball.
But it gets even more complicated when other aspects of the passing game are considered. While Rogers is best suited to work in the slot, so could Smith-Schuster as a physical, possession receiver who does not shy away from middle-of-the-field contact.
Also muddying those waters is running back Le'Veon Bell, who has been a prolific pass-catcher in Pittsburgh, with 227 catches for 2,005 yards and five scores. The team's approach to the tight end position could also make it less likely that the Steelers want six of their 53 final roster spots devoted to wideouts.
Another wrinkle: The apparent rivalry between Bryant and Coates regarding the Smith-Schuster pick. Though healthy competition is expected on any NFL roster, this could balloon into something bigger given Bryant's tenuous grasp on his NFL career and Coates suddenly seeming like he's a low man on the depth chart totem pole.
Outside Linebacker
6 of 6
In three of the last five drafts, the Steelers have opted to go with an outside linebacker as their Round 1 pick. Most recently, it was Wisconsin's T.J. Watt and, before that, Bud Dupree in 2015. Though one of those three—Jarvis Jones—is no longer in Pittsburgh, there's no doubt that the Steelers are trying to build a young core for their group of edge-rushers.
But veterans do remain and contribute heavily on Pittsburgh's defense, namely Arthur Moats and James Harrison. And there's also 2015 sixth-round pick Anthony Chickillo also on the roster as well as 2017 seventh-rounder Keion Adams. It wouldn't be surprising if the majority of the group winds up on the 53-man roster this year and sees playing time. What that division of labor looks like will be made far more clear once training camp is underway.
And again, this is more about playing time than being considered a starter. For example, Harrison had only seven starts technically last year (as in, playing the team's first defensive snap of a given game) but led the outside linebackers in total defensive snaps played, at 56.1 percent. Jones, meanwhile, had nine starts but played 45.3 percent of the time.
Watt may not be the lowest man on the depth chart, but he may be lowest in the snap count column, at least to begin the year. Watt, in the words of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, is not "raw" but he is "inexperienced," with only two years of collegiate linebacking experience to his name. That should result in more playing time for Harrison and Moats to open the year before perhaps ceding time as the season wears on.
The only thing that seems certain at this point is that Dupree, who played 30.4 percent of the Steelers' defensive snaps in 2016, should see his playing time increase to the point where he can be considered atop the depth chart on a consistent basis. But how the rest of the outside linebacking crew plays out weighs heavily on the speed of Watt's development more than anything.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
