By Cian Fahey Prior to last season, I wrote that Keenan Lewis would add a new dynamic to the Steelers defense, even though he wasn't a full-time starter, Lewis did do that playing the outside position in the team's nickel defense. What I didn't realize at the time was that Lewis was only the first step in a certain revamping of the Steelers' style. Over the past few years, the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense has been led by shorter more agile cornerbacks to fit their zone scheme. With players like Deshea Townsend, Bryant McFadden and William Gay on the roster, the rangy Ike Taylor was the exception Read more [...]

It is extremely tough not to root for wide receiver Limas Sweed, who was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft. The Steelers gave the 6 foot, 4 inch receiver out of Texas every opportunity to shake his demons since they drafted him, but they finally were forced to part ways with him last season as he had problems staying on the field and more importantly holding onto the football. Sweed has had his tires kicked by a few teams following his release by the Steelers, and the latest team to kick those tires was the New York Giants, who invited Sweed Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz With the egress of Bruce Arians and the addition of Todd Haley, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be lining up opening night against the Denver Broncos with a new offense that apparently is so complex that Ben Roethlisberger labeled it the Rosetta Stone. While nobody has ever accused Ben of being a rocket scientist, the seasoned veteran should not have any issues in assimilating the new playbook and its offensive philosophies. If anything, Roethlisberger is entering his prime as an NFL quarterback, and if history is a predictor of the future, it is that elite quarterbacks in their ninth Read more [...]

By Cian Fahey Back in February, Emmanuel Sanders revealed that he had been told he would be returning kicks and punts for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. Quite a lot has happened with the Steelers' roster since then which has given the Steelers a lot more flexibility with Sanders. Despite how good he may be in the role, ideally Sanders would not be needed as a returner to avoid exposing him to any more injuries. After injuring himself in the Super Bowl at the end of his rookie season, Sanders has had multiple issues with his feet that limited him as a second year player. He showed Read more [...]

The 2012 draft for the Pittsburgh Steelers is a few weeks behind us now. I have already posted about the state of the offensive and defensive line positions following the draft and today we will look at the state of the running back depth chart following the draft. Rashard Mendenhall - Mendenhall is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is likely to start the 2012 season on the PUP list as he continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered in the 2011 season finale against the Cleveland Browns. Should Mendenhall indeed start the season on the PUP list he will miss the first six games Read more [...]

By Christopher DiMarino Chris Rainey. What an addition. How many teams added a guy in the 5th round that had everyone talking? There is no doubt that Rainey is a high level talent, but is he a high risk high reward type of player? This is the big question on his shoulders. Eternally positive Pittsburgh Steelers fans automatically have him as a lock for punt and kick return duties and a dynamic big play threat on offense. Before we get rash, let's look into what must he do become the player we associate with these lofty expectations. There have been discussions from the day he was drafted about Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 107 of The Terrible Podcast is up and David Todd and I start off with a little house keeping as we recap the draft picks that have been signed thus far by the Pittsburgh Steelers and talk a little about the free agent visitors that were in town this week in the form of Matt Roth, Brandon Johnson and Dave Rayner. We also note the release of undrafted free agent kicker Grant Ressel in addition, who apparently was released right after the rookie camp wrapped up. we move on to talk about the pectoral injury suffered by Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Phil Taylor on Thursday and Read more [...]

Retired Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward threw out the first pitch before the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals on Thursday evening at PNC Park. Ward was a star baseball player in high school back in Georgia and was even drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 73rd round of the 1994 Major League Baseball draft. Thankfully Ward decided to not sign a contract and opted instead to go to the University of Georgia on a football scholarship. You can see video of the first pitch at the link above. In news related to Ward, Mark Kaboly reported on Twitter Thursday Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers released kicker Grant Ressel on Monday following the weekend rookie camp. Ressel had been signed as an undrafted free agent out of Missouri following the draft. The Steelers will certainly fill the roster spot with a kicker by next week as the first team OTA session gets under way. Veteran kicker Dave Rayner was brought in for a visit this past week and the Steelers also had put in a claim for kicker Jake Rogers following him being waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Dallas Cowboys were awarded the waiver claim on Rogers instead. Incumbent Shaun Suisham is entering Read more [...]

Chris Hoke may have retired this offseason, but he stays active in the media and he joined 93.7 The Fan Thursday morning for an interview. Hoke, who backed up Casey Hampton at nose tackle for  the Pittsburgh Steelers for over a decade, was asked about fourth round draft pick Alameda Ta'amu. Hoke said, "I tell you what, he's going to be a good football player, I don't know if hell be ready to go right away playing the nose tackle, maybe doing some situational things next season, but this guy is going to be a good football player for a lot of years here." Hoke was asked next how long it takes Read more [...]

By Christina Rivers In part one of the 'draft edition' of our weekly series 'Steelers Rewind', we talked about some past players and their draft stories.  This week we'll cover some draft history of players still with the Steelers and some other relevant stories.  As always, we hope that these rewind articles help shed light on facts that even the most avid of fans may not have remembered. (May 2003 - Polamalu concussion history is brought up in regards to his being drafted by the Steelers) Everyone who hasn't been under a rock since the 2003 NFL Draft knows who Troy Polamalu is, and Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed yet another one of their draft picks today as it is being announced by the team that guard Kelvin Beachum, the last of their four seventh-round draft picks in the 2012 NFL Draft, has come to terms on a four-year contract worth an estimated $2.143 million. The base salaries for Beachum will be $390,000, $480,000, $570,000 and $660,000. The signing bonus should come in at around $43,000. Beachum, who was the 248th overall pick in the draft, played collegiately at Southern Methodist University, where he started all 52 games that he played in at left tackle. Beachum Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger graduated from Miami (Ohio) University this past week and now he and the rest of the Steelers offense will go to summer school in attempt to graduate from Todd Haley University. Roethlisberger has not been shy about telling the media types in recent interviews that the offense that new offensive coordinator Todd Haley is installing is pretty foreign to him thus far. He has even made a few references to it as needing a Rosetta Stone book to understand it. Roethlisberger was recently quoted by Ed Bouchette in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in regard Read more [...]

By Christopher DiMarino The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Oregon tight end David Paulson in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL draft and he will certainly have the odds against him making the 53 man roster. Paulson will not be able to roll up to training camp and be given anything but a chance to earn a roster spot. Many don't know his name and many will write him off, but if he comes to Latrobe with a willingness to work hard and the drive to succeed, I think he can become a functioning member of the Steelers 53 man roster. If we quickly take a look at the list of possible tight ends, it's a Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz The Pittsburgh Steelers seemingly made it a point of emphasis to draft players this year to address areas of need at certain positions: David DeCastro and Mike Adams at guard and tackle, respectively, Sean Spence at inside linebacker, Alameda Ta’amu at nose tackle, and Chris Rainey at running back. One position that was not addressed in the draft, and was not expected to be, was kicker. While Shaun Suisham is not dreadful, his performance during his tenure with the Steelers is not exactly awe-inspiring and reliable. In his two seasons with Pittsburgh, Suisham has made 37 of Read more [...]