While it is in no way big news, I enjoy passing along any player related tidbits this time of year. Pittsburgh Steelers third year running back Jonathan Dwyer told me via Twitter on Thursday that he will be spending the whole month of July training with the great Tom Shaw down in Orlando at the Wide World of Sports complex.
So why is this news worthy? Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert gave a radio interview to SiriusXM NFL Radio while in Indianapolis for the NFL combine this past February and was asked about Dwyer specifically as it relates to his potential. Colbert replied, “You know every time he gets on the field he does something good. He came in last year, the game he broke his foot in, and he had a 100 yards. And he\’s a big guy and you know sometimes he\’s a little too big quite honestly. He has to keep his weight in check, but he\’s 245 to 255 and he can run. He played in an option offense at Georgia Tech and he was more like the, I don\’t know what back they call him, but he was more in on a lot of fakes. You know a lot of times he didn\’t get to see the line of scrimmage from a running standpoint. So everything is still ahead of him and he lost a year this year with the injury. So we still think he can get better.”
The comment by Colbert about the weight of Dwyer was one I am pretty sure was made to send a message, and perhaps Dwyer got it. To hear that he will be working out this summer with the likes of Ike Taylor, William Gay and perhaps even James Farrior is encouraging, as all three have shown up for training camp in excellent shape as a result of working with Shaw in the past. Taylor, a self professed obsessive compulsive workout guy, can\’t speak highly enough about Shaw and the work they get done down in Florida every offseason. Taylor is constantly ripped year around as a result. I think Dwyer will benefit greatly by adding Shaw into the mix, and it will not hurt having a few current and former teammates around to push him.
I also asked Dwyer about how his foot was recovering and he told me in so many words that it was good, but that he was not going run full speed on it until June. He said he was just going to take his time as that is what the staff asked him to do. Dwyer promised he would tweet updates during his time down in Orlando, so be on the lookout for those come July.
Colbert stated that he believes Dwyer can get better and I do as well. We saw some improvement in his pass protection and effort last year and he will need a solid training camp this year to make the 53 man roster. Several are certainly rooting for him.
