Pittsburgh Steelers’ right tackle Mike Adams continues to recover today from surgery he had Saturday morning. The medical procedure was was needed as a result of Adams’ being stabbed by three assailants who were allegedly trying to steal Adams’ truck.
While thankfully, no vital organs were damaged in the attack, it is expected that Adams will miss six to eight weeks. If everything goes well, that should put him on track for training camp but that could be a big ‘if.’
Medical procedures don’t always go as well as we would like. Just ask Rob Gronkowski… Should Adams’ recovery lead well into camp the Steelers’ options at right tackle involve very little experience or very little success.
The two most logical options right now are either second-year man Kelvin Beachum, who started the last five games of the 2012 season in place of the injured Adams and recently signed Guy Whimper who has played six seasons in the NFL.
Beachum was a 7th round pick who some didn’t even think would make the roster but he did and performed decently in his role. The Steelers have experimented with him at center during OTA’s and there has been discussion about him possibly playing guard as well.
Whimper has played for both the New York Giants and the Jacksonville Jaguars in his career and was probably a bit of a surprise signing when you consider his track record. According to Pro Football Focus, Whimper gave up a league-high 14 sacks in 2011 and graded out as 74th out of 80 tackles going into last season with the Jags.
A third option of course is free agency. On Saturday, the $5.5 million from Willie Colon’s dismissal came off the books opening up some cap space. Prior to June 1st, the Steelers were less than $100,000 under the cap.
Both Jarvis Jones and Le’Veon Bell have yet to be signed so some of the cash will go towards that and the Steelers like to keep a million or so on hand for ’emergencies’ so there wouldn’t be much there for any solid signings to be sure.
Right now, the best option in my mind is to let Beachum take the job unless Whimper or one of the undrafted rookie free agents beats him out.
Obviously we all hope this is a moot point and that Adams is ready to go but in the NFL you must constantly plan for every possibility and this one is no different.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 4pm ET talking Steelers.
