Rounding Up Latest Pittsburgh Steelers Offseason Buzz
This week marks the Pittsburgh Steelers' mandatory all-team minicamp, the last portion of their offseason program prior to the start of training camp in late July.
Though over a month separates the two events, that doesn't mean the flow of information and rumors will necessarily slow down in kind.
There are numerous major stories swirling around the Steelers at this point in the summer. Here are the details on each of them.
Le'Veon Bell Misses Minicamp
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In March, Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell underwent groin surgery, but that's not the reason—or at least, the only reason—why he's been away from his team during the offseason.
Bell has thus far missed all 10 of the Steelers' voluntary OTAs and this week's mandatory minicamp, all without signing the $12.12 million franchise tag the team assigned to him in February.
For what it's worth, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is not concerned about Bell's continued absence. Per the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Joe Rutter, he said: "It's a waste of my time to focus on the guys that are not available to me, whether it's an injury or otherwise."
But time is ticking down—the Steelers and Bell need to come to an agreement on a long-term deal by July 15; otherwise, the player will be stuck working off of the tag for all of 2017, with any further negotiations and a hypothetical contract not coming until 2018.
Bell certainly doesn't need the reps in either OTAs or minicamp, and he wouldn't likely have done much during them given his ongoing recovery from surgery.
However, now the concern is that Bell could spend his 2017 dissatisfied with the team he's spent the last four years with and where he's contributed over 6,000 combined rushing and receiving yards in regular-season games alone.
The Steelers have the cash to pay Bell, but that doesn't matter without both sides being in agreement about his future compensation.
Senquez Golson's Roster Security
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In 2015, the Steelers drafted cornerback Senquez Golson with their second-round pick. However, he hasn't played in a single game, with a shoulder injury costing him his rookie year and a Lisfranc fracture in his foot holding him off the field in 2016.
In the interim, the Steelers have added numerous defensive backs to their roster, including cornerback Artie Burns and safety Sean Davis in the 2016 NFL draft, cornerbacks Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen in the 2017 draft, and free-agent corners Ross Cockrell and Coty Sensabaugh in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
The team also still has the services of William Gay under contract. Indeed, the cornerback position is a crowded one and nothing appears close to being simply handed Golson, especially with so much time missed.
While Golson is among the candidates to serve as the Steelers' slot cornerback this year, defensive backs coach Carnell Lake indicated to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac on Wednesday that the player's ability to serve as a gunner on special teams—as well as a defensive back—will determine whether there is a place for him on Pittsburgh's 53-man roster this year.
A requirement like that is typically one given to a young defensive back, particularly a middle- or late-round draft pick. This shows just how deep the Steelers' group of cornerbacks is at the moment and just how the coaches view Golson's place in it.
If Golson does not prove to be an asset on special teams, he will never get his chance to be a part of Pittsburgh's secondary. It is also a strong indicator that no one expects him to be a starter in 2017 should he make the roster.
Patriots on Their Mind
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The Steelers made it all the way to the AFC Championship game last season, only to fall to the eventual Super Bowl winners the New England Patriots, 36-17.
The Patriots have long been a challenging opponent for the Patriots; in the Tom Brady era, New England has beaten Pittsburgh 10 times (with two losses) and the veteran quarterback has thrown 29 touchdowns against the Steelers.
Finally, it appears that Pittsburgh is doubling down on their efforts to not just improve their defense but to improve it in a way that is focused on besting the Patriots (whom, it should be noted, the Steelers host in Week 15 of the upcoming season).
One way is the employment of more man-to-man coverages in the secondary. This is something Steelers coaches, in particular, have emphasized during the offseason and also addressed via drafting cornerbacks Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen and signing free agent Coty Sensabaugh.
It was also a major talking point for Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Keith Butler, who told the team's official website this week:
"We did what we felt like we had to do against [the Patriots] in terms of where our defense was at the time. We knew at the end of last year we needed to develop more than just spot-drop and play zone. We knew that going into the end of the season, but we felt like, hey, that was the best opportunity that we had to try to get to the Super Bowl."
Butler added:
"Right now we're going into training camp and it's going to help, I think, on both sides of the ball if we play a little bit more 'man'... Man-to-man, in conjunction with the other defenses that we play, will augment our defense and, hopefully, we'll be better than we were last year."
The Steelers are also trying to switch the way they bring pressure on quarterbacks, a necessary adjustment given the new philosophy in the secondary.
"This year we have to be able to play conventional coverages with conventional people playing those coverages with conventional people rushing the passer... We have to be able to put pressure on quarterbacks with just four men," Butler said.
As the Boston Herald's Karen Guregian noted, the man-coverage of the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons both hindered the Patriots at times last year. So, perhaps the Steelers' change of direction will finally give them an advantage against their most prolific rivals.
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Landry Jones' Depth Chart Status
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When the Steelers brought back quarterback Landry Jones on a two-year, $4.4 million deal in March, it seemed a moot point to wonder whether he'd serve as the primary backup to Ben Roethlisberger.
However, a wrench was thrown into those plans a month later when the Steelers selected Joshua Dobbs in the fourth round of the draft.
It seemed quite possible that Dobbs could push Jones down the depth chart pending the results of summertime competition.
But, with minicamp closing this week, it appears that Jones will remain the No. 2 on the depth chart. That's the conclusion Steelers.com's Bob Labriola came to earlier in June, and one that is further supported by Jones having taken on the job of mentoring Dobbs this year.
Jones didn't throw a regular-season pass during his first two seasons in Pittsburgh, but he has since started four games in place of Roethlisberger, leading the Steelers to two wins and two losses.
And should an injury befall Roethlisberger this year, it will be Jones again getting the start and not Dobbs.
While this doesn't mean that Dobbs isn't part of a longer-term plan for the Steelers—up to and including the potential moment he becomes Roethlisberger's eventual successor in a few years—it does mean there should be no concern on Jones' behalf about losing hold of the backup job for 2017.
T.J. Watt Catching on Quickly
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The Steelers were able to snag the player they wanted most in the first round of the 2017 draft, Wisconsin linebacker T.J. Watt.
However, even his first-round pedigree did not provide much illumination as to how much playing time he may get as a rookie. It would have to take until the team began practicing for his role to reveal itself.
Though the Steelers have yet to take part in fully padded, full-contact practices, Watt has been a standout. He worked with the first-team defense to open OTAs in May (granted, because veteran James Harrison does not need the reps at this point in his career) and turned his teammates' heads immediately.
Inside linebacker Ryan Shazier said Watt "did a pretty good job," and "caught on to the pace pretty well," and outside linebacker Bud Dupree said he was "catching on fast."
That praise was not just lip service; it's continued as OTAs have come and gone and minicamp commenced.
Inside linebacker Vince Williams told the NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala that Watt "is the most ready rookie I've seen. Ever," and that the rookie "is not lost ever."
Per PennLive's Jacob Klinger, outside linebackers coach Joey Porter put the punctuation mark on the high praise: "As many practices as we've had I can count how many mistakes [Watt has] made on one hand. And that's rare."
Watt, who had 63 tackles, 15.5 tackles for a loss, 11.5 sacks, an interception returned for a touchdown and two forced fumbles in 2016 was nonetheless just a one-year starter in Wisconsin and had a tight end before switching to defense in 2015.
For those reasons, it would have come as no surprise if Watt was a slow-starter in his first introduction to the NFL workload.
But the 22-year-old has shined so far, which should make things interesting as the Steelers work to establish their ideal defensive rotation between Watt, Harrison, Arthur Moats and Dupree.
New Contracts for Tuitt, Villanueva?
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While the contract-related absence of running back Le'Veon Bell may be attracting the most attention, there are two other players the Steelers are also hoping to come to some sort of long-term agreement this summer.
Left tackle Alejandro Villanueva and defensive end Stephon Tuitt are both in line to get contracts from the Steelers and both could see that happen between now and the start of the regular season.
Villanueva has been offered a $615,000 exclusive-rights tender for 2017 but hasn't signed it. He has, though, signed a waiver that would pay him approximately that amount if he gets hurt during the team's OTA sessions and minicamp, which he has attended in their entirety. While the prospects of not receiving long-term job security do worry him, Villanueva has maintained "it's something that my agent and the front office will work to sort out."
Tuitt, too, is not concerning himself with worrying about his financial future, instead focusing on what he can do on the field in 2017.
Per Ray Fittipaldo of ESPN, he said: "I don't really talk to my agent much... I don't care about that."
Tuitt added: "Just getting better every day is my goal. I'm probably a couple of steps away from being the No. 1 defensive lineman in the league, from having multiple sacks. It's just preparing and becoming that guy, the guy the Steelers need me to be and help them get to the Super Bowl."
Tuitt's situation is more immediately pressing than Villanueva's.
Tuitt is in the final year of his rookie deal, while Villanueva is under the Steelers' control to 2018, when he will be a restricted free agent. Thus, the former could see his contract arrive before the latter, even though Pittsburgh would prefer to get both (plus Bell) inked over the course of the summer.
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