Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette speculated on Wednesday of last week that rookie tackle Mike Adams might be able to attend the Pittsburgh Steelers third and final OTA session that gets underway this week after being told last Tuesday that players can attend once their course work ends, not necessarily when the semester ends. Unfortunately that will not be the case as Adams will not be in Pittsburgh this week according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Adams should still be able to make the final mini-camp that runs June 12-14 as Ohio State graduates next weekend. Like Adams, both David DeCastro and Alameda Ta\’amu will also miss their third OTA session this week in addition. It is still unknown for certain if either of those two players will be able to join Adams in making the final mini-camp just yet. The University of Washington reportedly has commencement dates of June 8-10, while Stanford University commencement dates are set for June 14-17.
Adams, who was drafted by the Steelers in the second round this past April, is considered by many to be a candidate to compete for the starting left tackle spot this year, but missing all of the OTA sessions, along with the installation of the new offense of Todd Haley, has certainly not helped his chances. The same could be said for DeCastro, who the Steelers likely hope can win the starting right guard job this year out of training camp. DeCastro however is considered more NFL ready than Adams following the draft and both still have all of training camp to make their marks and win starting spots on the offensive line.
