Steelers Source

Mr Bubble

We’re at the halfway point in the preseason and there are a few surprises in terms of players on the bubble to make the roster this year. With all of the pre-camp roster analysis out there, mine included, you never know how things are going to go once they strap on the pads. I guess that is why they have a training camp. I’ll start with a couple of guys that I thought were in trouble:

• William Gay (CB) – Nothing too shocking here with Bryant McFadden being brought back and last year’s draft picks (Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis), plus Crezdon Butler are all playing reasonably well. Not going to miss him.
• Justin Hartwig (C) – If I said Hartwig was widely regarded in the bottom quarter of centers in the League I would be generous. The writing was on the wall when Maurkice Pouncey was drafted and the only question was whether Pouncey could handle all of the line calls this year. He can and that is going to spell the end of Hartwig.

Here are a couple that may come as a surprise:

• Keyaron Fox (LB) – I’m taking a bit of a guess on this one, since knowing the Steelers they will keep 10 linebackers, but this is a crowded position and Stevenson Sylvester has been better than expected.
• Flozell Adams (T) – This is killing me since I was on the top of the mountain screaming for the Steelers to sign him, but dude can’t pass block on the corner anymore. I think they should keep him and play him at guard. This one is a topic for a whole other posting.
• Antwaan Randle El (WR) – I think this is the same kind of situation as Keyaron Fox, too much competition with both Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders playing well.

This is the first of my posts breaking down this year’s positional battles during this year’s training camp. I figured that I would start with my personal favorite and get finished with the cornerbacks (or lack thereof) in Latrobe this year. Positions reflected are straight from the Steelers website, for example DB could reflect cornerback or safety as needed on the roster. Ok, here is what we are looking at:

I’ll start with the easier of the two first and talk about the safeties first. Baring injury, this position is set as reflected with the exception of Justin Thornton whose only chance would be to make the team on special teams. We can only hope that the return of Troy Polamalu will help cover Ryan Clark’s oft-exposed backside of last year.

No surprises at cornerback where the starters will be Bryant McFadden and Ike Taylor. Where things will get interesting is when the Steelers go into the nickle package. Odds on favorite at nickleback would be William Gay, but with his performance last year when given the opportunity to be a starter his position is nowhere near secure. If either Joe Burnett or Keenan Lewis have a decent camp, my bet is that the winner of that battle will take Gay’s job.

I love Anthony Madison (the straw that stirs the drink on special teams), and given the Steelers made a move to bring him back last year, he’s safe. I’ll give Crezdon Butler an outside chance at making the final roster, but he might get caught in a numbers game in the end. David Pitman and Tuff Harris will see the Turk before camp breaks.

Bryant McFadden

The big news of the day wasn’t who the Steelers drafted, but who they brought back. In a trade with the Arizona Cardinals where the Steelers gave up a 5th Round pick they received cornerback Bryant McFadden and the Cardinals 6th Round pick. McFadden had been the starting cornerback on the Steelers Super Bowl XLIII team, and after that season signed a 2 year deal with the Cardinals for $10 million as an unrestricted free agent.

This deal had been in the works with Arizona for the past few days and explains the thinking behind not taking a cornerback in the early rounds of the NFL Draft. Maybe William Gay can split cab fare with Trai Essex on the trip out of the starting lineup.

With the returns of Larry Foote, Antwaan Randle El, Byron Leftwich, and now McFadden, I’ve been having a hard time getting the image out of my head from the movie the Blues Brothers when they say, “We’re putting the band back together.” Should we just be done with it and sign up Alan Faneca and Joey Porter?