Tuesday morning, I posted what I believed to be the main reason why the Pittsburgh Steelers decided to replace John Malecki with Cody Wallace over the weekend and it turns out that I hit the nail on the head. During his Tuesday press conference, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked if Wallace was signed mainly because he is a true center.
“Really, it’s the chief reason why he’s here,” said Tomlin. “He’s a known commodity from a professional football standpoint in terms of snapping the ball. He’s also guard capable. This is a guy who was a three-year starter at Texas A&M at center and has been in the league and on several different teams in that capacity. He’s a sharp guy, he’s got good quickness and we believe he’s going to be a positive asset to our group.”
As I stated in my earlier post, at first I didn’t understand the move but after going back and doing some research that included watching tape of both Wallace and Malecki, it is much easier to understand why the move was made.
While Wallace does need to work on his play at guard, the Steelers really only envision him playing center initially as Kelvin Beachum will more than likely be the first lineman off the bench should something happen to David DeCastro or Ramon Foster. The team just wasn’t satisfied with what Malecki could give them at the center position and that is why he was ultimately waived.
