Pittsburgh Steelers' 5 Biggest Training Camp Battles

The Pittsburgh Steelers start their 2017 training camp on July 27. And while a number of positions are settled, particularly at the top of the depth chart, there are still others to be determined over the course of the multiple practices and four preseason games that are ahead.

Here are the Steelers' five biggest training camp battles to watch this summer and early predictions on who has the edge to win them.

Slot Cornerback

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With Artie Burns and Ross Cockrell likely to reprise their roles as the Steelers' starting cornerbacks on the outside, the summer will be spent not only trying to determine who their primary backups will be in 2017 but also who will serve as the starting third, or slot, cornerback on the defense. 

The main candidates are long-time Steelers veteran William Gay, free-agent signing Coty Sensabaugh, rookie Cameron Sutton and Senquez Golson, the team's second-round pick in 2015 who has had both of his previous seasons erased due to back-to-back injuries. 

Though Gay has the edge when it comes to experience—something that should go a long way to securing him a roster spot this year—he may not be the ultimate first choice for Pittsburgh's secondary. With the team wanting to employ more man-to-man coverage in the passing game, his prowess as a more zone-centric player could give him a situational role this season rather than a starting one.

Sutton could use the summer to prove he's ready for a full-time role as a rookie, but it's more likely that Sensabaugh will take on the starting slot job at least to open the year.

Meanwhile, Golson will need to turn heads as both a cornerback and a special teamer in order to be one of the six anticipated cornerbacks to make the Steelers' 53-man roster. Another rookie, Brian Allen, seems destined for a practice-squad role.

Most of Sensabaugh's previous five seasons have been spent defending the slot, including 10 starts for the New York Giants a year ago. That degree of experience in that particular position makes him the favorite to open camp, though the presences of both Gay and Sutton could easily change things over the course of the next few weeks.

Backup Running Back

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Though the Steelers technically have secured the services of their top running back Le'Veon Bell through the 2017 season, the uncertainty that still swirls around him after he and the Steelers could not come to an agreement on a long-term deal before Monday's deadline means that determining a pecking order on the depth chart behind him is a major priority for the team this summer.

Bell, who will play under the $12.12 million franchise tag this year, has yet to sign said tag. This means, as pointed out by ESPN's Adam Schefter, he has every right to skip as much of training camp as he'd like and won't be financially penalized unless he continues his holdout into the regular season.

And the longer time he misses, the longer and closer a look the Steelers can take at other running backs on the roster.

Though the obvious choice for the No. 2 position would be 2017 third-round draft pick James Conner, the rookie has missed nearly all of the team's offseason program to date with a hamstring injury. That puts him behind on his on-field work—work that involves catching passes, running routes and blocking in addition to running the ball—and thus presents an opening for Knile Davis and Fitzgerald Toussaint to make their own cases for selection.

At first, it seemed Davis and Toussaint would be battling it out for the No. 3 job, but with Conner's progress at least temporarily stunted, the rookie may just go into the start of the season as the third-stringer on the depth chart. In that case, Davis comes into camp with the edge over Toussaint.

He's been in the league longer (this will be his fifth season, to Toussaint's fourth), has carried the ball 250 times (compared to 38 for Toussaint) averages 3.2 yards per rush compared to 2.9 for Toussaint and is a more proven asset as a kick returner, scoring two career touchdowns on special teams units.

At this point, it seems Toussaint is the odd man out, with the main question being who from Davis and Conner will serve as the No. 2 behind Bell, whenever it is that Bell shows up to the team.

Outside Linebacker

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There is little question that Bud Dupree, the Steelers' 2015 Round 1 draft pick, will be a starting outside linebacker to open the 2017 season. And there is little doubt that veterans such as James Harrison and Arthur Moats will have their places in the defensive rotation.

But how much playing time the pair get is dependent on one thing: how quickly 2017 first-round draft pick T.J. Watt can get up to speed and into starting condition this summer.

Watt has already worked with the Steelers' first-team defense this offseason, while Harrison, the 39-year-old veteran, gets much-deserved time off of the field. That trend should continue this summer, which should accelerate Watt's development, potentially enough that he's playing the team's first defensive snap of the regular season.

As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Paul Zeise pointed out in June, Watt starting as a rookie would not be uncommon; inside linebacker Ryan Shazier was a Week 1 starter in his rookie year in 2014, as was Jarvis Jones in 2013.

And it would be the best thing for Harrison, in particular, as a player the Steelers would like to keep as fresh as possible, both in games and throughout the season. Last year, he played 56.1 percent of the Steelers' defensive snaps, per Football Outsiders. With Watt in the picture, the goal is to cut that at in half.

The Steelers won't just be trying to figure out who will serve as the starting outside linebackers this year, but who plays, how much and when.

While not a traditional positional battle in that sense, the evaluation process that will take place over the summer will impact the seasons of Watt, Dupree, Harrison, Moats and even Anthony Chickillo and rookie Keion Adams no matter where they may technically be listed on the depth chart.

Slot Receiver

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Only two receivers for the Steelers spent more than 50 percent of their snaps in the slot a year ago, according to Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot—Eli Rogers, at 67 percent and Markus Wheaton, at 52 percent. With Wheaton having left in free agency, it seems Rogers would be unchallenged for the slot receiving job in 2017. But there is competition to be found that could significantly eat into his playing time this year.

Last season, Rogers caught 48 passes for 594 yards and three scores, with 32 of his catches and two of his scores coming from running routes in the slot. But the presence of rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster, drafted by the Steelers in Round 2 this year, will give Rogers some serious competition in the summer.

The NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala reported from the Steelers minicamp in June that Smith-Schuster is "getting a ton of work in the slot right now," something that carried over from the team's OTAs and should continue into training camp.

As Pro Football Focus' Andrew Fleischer noted, Smith-Schuster is no stranger getting midfield work, running 76 routes in the slot as a senior at USC in 2016, and catching 15-of-19 passes for 147 yards and three scores.

Demarcus Ayers, who spent most of 2016 on the Steelers' practice squad and was active for two games, could also be in the running for the job. Though he was in the slot on just two percent of his routes a season ago, he also only caught six passes for 53 yards and one score. 

Rogers certainly has the edge, but Smith-Schuster's first-team work in the slot certainly does not mean that Rogers' stock won't give ground as the summer wears on. And Ayers is a dark-horse candidate to keep an eye on; that he's a versatile player could at least earn him a roster spot even if he doesn't leapfrog Rogers or Smith-Schuster on the depth chart.

Kick and Punt Returners

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Last year, five different players returned kicks for the Steelers—receivers Antonio Brown, Sammie Coates, and Cobi Hamilton, running back Fitzgerald Toussaint and cornerback Justin Gilbert.

Two—Brown and Eli Rogers—returned punts. But with Gilbert gone, Hamilton on the roster bubble and Brown having signed a four-year, $68 million deal in the offseason, the jobs all seem up for grabs as training camp begins.

Brown may want to reprise his role as the team's top punt returner, given his prowess at doing so (175 punts returned, for 1,698 yards and four scores), but his value to the team both performance-wise and financially may have special teams coach Danny Smith choosing to look elsewhere this year. That would make Rogers, who returned seven punts for 45 yards last year, a leading candidate.

However, rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton was also a strong punt returner in college, with 46 returns for 657 yards and three scores. At the very least, he will get preseason opportunities as a returner that could evolve into him making the position his own this summer.

At kick returner, Coates should be one of the players the Steelers look at, after returning six kickoffs for 150 yards a season ago. Though he was outtouched by Fitzgerald Toussaint, with 13 returns for 278 yards, Toussaint's roster spot is in jeopardy. But the person who most threatens his place is also the one most likely to push Coates out from kick return duties as well—Knile Davis.

Davis has returned 73 kickoffs for 1,960 yards and two scores over the course of four seasons. Though the Steelers value what he can contribute as a running back, that experience as a kick returner is what likely had the greatest influence over the team signing him to a one-year deal in March. 

Sutton, Davis and Brown have the legs up as returners heading into camp, but the Steelers will likely experiment with a number of players in the return game. Ultimately, the goal should be to find someone who can reliably give the team a field-position advantage without having to further risk the health of a star player like Brown.