Steelers’ Training Camp doesn’t officially begin until the players put the pads on now that we’ve reached that point we can get on to some more thorough analysis of what we’ve been seeing so far in Latrobe.
-The talk at the end of practice on Sunday was about Ryan Shazier who was faster and just flat-out more dynamic than everyone else. Too many, Shazier’s play isn’t a surprise. When healthy, he’s proven that he can be a total game-changer but as always, health is the question for the former first round pick.
-After a really good day Saturday, wide receiver Sammie Coates came back down to Earth a bit with some dropped balls. There is absolutely no question he can be a fantastic threat in this offense but he has to be more consistent. This is the same problem that plagued him at Auburn.
-With Kentucky Head Basketball Coach John Calipari at Sunday’s practice, Steelers’ cornerback William Gay proudly sported a shirt from his alma mater, Louisville. (photo courtesy thescore.com)
-The Antonio Brown contract issue will not die. In large part due to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network who I swear exists to fire up people for no reason. He said that despite DeAndre Hopkins reporting to Texans’ camp after a brief holdout that the same situation bears watching with Brown.
-For his part, Brown was honest when asked about it. “You have to take care of your guys,” Brown said after Sunday’s practice. “If a guy underperforms, you get rid of him. If a guy overperforms, you take care of him.” (h/t espn.go.com) I don’t disagree with Brown this would be pretty unprecedented if the Steelers cave with two years left on his current deal.
-James Harrison spoke to the media for about 25 seconds. He was asked about the on-going PED investigation and put the while thing to a stop right there.
-Want to watch a professional football player? Watch guys like AB, David DeCastro and Arthur Moats. The have fun but when it’s time to work, they get after it. Others do too, but they stood out recently.
-Rookies are always hard to gauge but so far so good with Javon Hargrave. The third round pick has been impressive with both power and speed.
Banner photo courtesy sportspyder.com
