Steelers attempted to remedy poor run defense
Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner runs for a touchdown during the first half of the second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay. Without Le'Veon Bell in training camp, Conner has stepped up his level of play.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nate Sudfeld (7) is tackled by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jon Bostic (51) during the first half of the first preseason game in Philadelphia. Bostic was signed in the offseason to fill the vacancy left by Ryan Shazier's injury.
Associated Press
Pittsburgh Steelers placekicker Chris Boswell watches his field goal attempt during the first preseason football game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. Boswell is one of the most consistent kickers in the NFL.
Associated Press
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown prepares to catch a pass during practice at training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
Associated Press
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger goes through drills at practice during training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Aug. 21, 2018.
The Pittsburgh Steelers pride themselves on stopping the run, but last season a leaky unit turned into a dumpster fire after Ryan Shazier went down in the 11th game.
Before Shazier went down, the Steelers allowed 4.0 yards per carry. After he went down, they allowed 5.1 per carry.
It added up to their worst per-carry yield 鈥� 4.397 鈥� since 1954.
Fixing the run defense was the offseason priority, according to team president Art Rooney II, and it was echoed by Vince Williams and Cameron Heyward, two leaders up front.
Their remedies?
Well, the 31st-ranked tackling team in the league, as ranked by Pro Football Focus, went out and signed PFF蘑菇视频 No. 1 tackling safety, Morgan Burnett, and its No. 8 tackling linebacker, Jon Bostic.
And those two went out and missed tackles on one of the first carries of the preseason, a 23-yard run. Burnett, early in the next game, also missed an open-field tackle to allow a 27-yard gain after a short catch.
But the two overcame their bumpy starts as Burnett settled into his more familiar box safety role and Bostic continued to learn how to play next to Williams.
The other addition was first-round draft pick Terrell Edmunds, a strong safety. But adding moderately priced free agents and drafting 28th isn鈥檛 going to fix all of their needs, particularly when 56 percent of the Steelers鈥� payroll goes to offense and only 41 percent to defense. That 15-point discrepancy is the ninth highest in the NFL and means the Steelers will have to rely on their offense to outscore opponents.
Is that possible?
Well, let蘑菇视频 find out.
QUARTERBACK: First, Ben Roethlisberger lost Todd Haley and told the Steelers he wanted to play another five years. And then Roethlisberger lost a bunch of weight to show he was serious.
In great shape, Roethlisberger, 36, showed in camp he still has the great arm, while three other quarterbacks fought for a place behind him. After two preseason games, it appeared Landry Jones had held off Josh Dobbs and rookie Mason Rudolph for the spot.
Jones finished strong in 2017, but is entering the final year of his contract and is six years older than Dobbs, who might not be as accurate as Jones but showed far better mobility. Perhaps the Steelers will trade one of the two. However, Dobbs was never given the opportunity to show what he could do with the first team this preseason and Jones remains the best bet to help if Roethlisberger goes down.
Rudolph, the most accurate and highest drafted of the three backup candidates, showed progress toward becoming a starter one day, but also displayed poor ball security that must improve before he蘑菇视频 considered legitimate starting material.
Grade: A.
RUNNING BACK: Has Le鈥橵eon Bell蘑菇视频 absence made the Steelers鈥� collective heart grow fonder?
Or is it more out of sight, out of mind?
鈥淎bsence is weird,鈥� said All-Pro guard David DeCastro. 鈥淚t is tough. But we鈥檝e been here before.鈥�
Yes, Bell used the only contract leverage he had last year in this identical situation with the franchise tag. He refused to sign the tender and therefore wasn鈥檛 obliged to report until the first week of the season. He then averaged 3.5 yards per carry and 79 yards from scrimmage in his first three games last season, compared to averages of 5.5 and 147 in his first three games the previous season.
This year, the Steelers will be better prepared to help Bell with the blossoming of James Conner this preseason.
Conner is a better conditioned athlete than in his rookie season, and he蘑菇视频 hitting the hole quicker, breaking more tackles and gaining speed in the secondary. He蘑菇视频 also shown the ability to get deep as a receiver and is exponentially better as a pass-blocker. Conner could even prove to be Bell蘑菇视频 heir apparent as a three-down threat in 2019 if he continues to progress.
The Steelers are much better behind Conner, too, with Fitzgerald Toussaint edging another veteran, Stevan Ridley, in the first half of the preseason. Rookie Jaylen Samuels seemingly has secured a roster spot. His pass-catching ability in the red zone should provide him with a niche that could secure his spot on the team.
At fullback, the Steelers have a devastating blocker and Pro Bowl-caliber special-teamer in Rosie Nix.
Grade: A-.
RECEIVER: Antonio Brown doesn鈥檛 have a peer in the game, and 鈥淭ony Toe Tap鈥� was at it again in training camp. However, a nagging quadriceps injury cost him practice time as the beastly JuJu Smith-Schuster shone bright in preparation for his sophomore season.
Smith-Schuster should help more in the red zone than he did a year ago when he tied a team record with a 97-yard score among his seven touchdowns. Smith-Schuster will move inside to replace the PUP-bound Eli Rogers in passing packages, and therefore the No. 3 receiver will be the one under the microscope.
The Steelers, particularly Roethlisberger, seem willing to give Justin Hunter first dibs on that No. 3 job. Hunter is 6-4 and can run and is the best imitation of the Plaxico Burress-Martavis Bryant type deep threat the Steelers have. Hunter蘑菇视频 entering his fifth season after coming out of Tennessee with much promise, but he蘑菇视频 yet to catch more than 28 passes in a season.
If Hunter fails, the No. 3 job will fall to rookie second-round pick James Washington, who received plenty of hype in training camp. But Washington did most of his damage against backups both in practice and in games. Yet, no one on the team grabs fades and back-shoulder passes in the end zone better than this rookie.
At tight end, the Steelers return Vance McDonald from his career-high 10-catch playoff game. However, he was injured most of training camp as Jesse James enjoyed his best camp yet. The 6-7 James joins the physical Xavier Grimble to form an underrated group of tight ends 鈥� if healthy.
Grade: B+.
OFFENSIVE LINE: The starting five return, but the Steelers had to replace versatile reserve Chris Hubbard, who signed with the Cleveland Browns.
That depth was tested early in camp when left guard Ramon Foster went down with a hyperextended knee that will keep him out until the opener. If Foster can鈥檛 go, one of the team蘑菇视频 top reserves, B.J. Finney, will play left guard, and behind Finney is another reserve who could start on other teams, Matt Feiler, of Bloomsburg.
Finding a third tackle is the tricky part here, and to that end the Steelers drafted Chuks Okorafor in the third round. He蘑菇视频 a natural knee-bender with all of the required physical tools and didn鈥檛 embarrass himself in preseason games. But, again, he蘑菇视频 a rookie who may have to play the 鈥渉ot corner鈥� of left tackle if needed.
The Steelers picked up a fourth tackle, massive Zach Brenner, who showed some Max Starks signs and could be coached up into serviceability by Mike Munchak.
Grade: A-.
DEFENSIVE LINE: On the poor side of the tracks reside a couple of mansions named Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt. They鈥檙e pillars of the Steelers鈥� front line, and in an age when nose tackles are used less frequently, they, as nickel tackles, are critical as both pass-rushers and run-stuffers. Heyward and Tuitt fit the bill.
Javon Hargrave is a quality nose tackle, and behind him Steelers鈥� new D-line coach, Karl Dunbar, appears to have sparked Big Dan McCullers, the massive backup.
Tyson Alualu and L.T. Walton provide above-average depth for a unit that, on paper, appears to be a good start defensively.
Grade: B+.
LINEBACKERS: In the five drafts leading up to last year蘑菇视频 playoff loss, the Steelers had drafted four first-round linebackers and 10 overall. But here they were calling a 2012 pick, Sean Spence, off the couch to start next to 2013 sixth-round pick Vince Williams to compensate for the loss of Ryan Shazier.
It didn鈥檛 work. The Jaguars gashed the Steelers for 116 yards on 19 first-half rushes that opened the field for Blake Bortles.
Williams is back. He鈥檒l be paired with Bostic, a 27-year-old free agent coming off a career-best season in Indianapolis. Bostic is the better coverage backer, but he struggled in that capacity through in the first preseason games. Behind them are Tyler Matakevich and the underrated L.J. Fort, with undrafted Matthew Thomas the best athlete of the group.
Thomas led Florida State in tackles the last two seasons as a classic 5-star recruit, but he dropped off draft boards due to a bumpy past that蘑菇视频 left him with one last chance. Don鈥檛 count on him; but don鈥檛 count him out, either. He showed flashes of that athletic ability more consistently as the preseason dragged on.
Outside, the Steelers have flopped T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree in order to get Dupree untracked. Behind them are Anthony Chickillo and intriguing youngsters Keion Adams, Farrington Huguenin and another undrafted rookie, the short but speedy Ola Adeniyi out of Toledo.
Grade: C+.
SECONDARY: Joe Haden completed his first training camp with the team and emerged the new leader of the group. The other cornerback, Artie Burns, emerged from his third preseason as a potential shutdown corner. His camp was that good. So the Steelers have solid starters at cornerback, with a couple of slot corners in Mike Hilton and Cameron Sutton who鈥檒l help in nickel and dime packages.
The Steelers brought in four new safeties, two via free agency (Burnett, Nat Berhe) and two via the draft (Edmunds, fifth-rounder Marcus Allen), and Sean Davis made the move from strong safety to replace Mike Mitchell at free safety. It蘑菇视频 a position that should be a better fit for the rangy Davis.
Burnett will start at strong safety, but move to dime backer in certain packages to allow Edmunds at strong safety. Edmunds has the hair out the helmet and the same digits on his jersey (34) as Troy Polamalu, and the Steelers are grooming Edmunds to be that kind of a wild-card playmaker. Of course, even Polamalu needed a year to learn, but Edmunds appeared to be a quick study at training camp.
At press time, Berhe was being challenged by the underrated Jordan Dangerfield for the final job, with Penn State蘑菇视频 Allen a virtual no-show this preseason.
Grade: B.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Placekicker Chris Boswell scored more points (142) last season than anyone in team history. But, he蘑菇视频 not just a quantity guy. He蘑菇视频 quality, as a franchise-best 89.5 percent career conversion rate on field goals attests. Boswell connected on 35-of-38 field goals last year for a 92.1 percent conversion rate.
Punter Jordan Berry is reliable and like Boswell enters his fourth season as a pro.
At press time, undrafted rookie Quadree Henderson had done little to win the open job as a return specialist, but the dynamic Pitt product still had two games to prove himself.
In Hilton and Darrius Heyward-Bey, the Steelers have quality punt gunners, but they didn鈥檛 get their top choices in free agency to replace departed teams captain Rob Golden. They got their third choice, Berhe, but he may not make the team.
Nix and Matakevich will be aided by Edmunds in coverage down the middle of the field.
Grade: B+.