If you have been waiting for Pittsburgh Steelers rookie fourth-round wide receiver Martavis Bryant to come alive during training camp, your wait is over. According to several reports, Bryant had a solid showing Saturday and especially during the red zone drill.
Head coach Mike Tomlin cautiously praised the Clemson product at the conclusion of Saturday’s practice.
“Obviously he made a few plays today, but he’s a big guy, so we expect him to consistently make big guy plays,” said Tomlin of Bryant’s efforts on Saturday. “I’m interested in him developing a complete game.”
With several players currently ahead of him on the depth chart, Bryant isn’t likely to see much playing time once the regular season gets underway barring injuries. What little playing that he does receive, however, could come inside the red zone in order to take advantage of his 6-4 height and 39-inch vertical jump.
Following him be drafted back in May, Steelers wide receivers coach Richard Mann talked about how Bryant could provide the offense some cheap touchdowns because of his measurables.
“A lot of times people know where the ball is going to go and there is nothing they can do about it if you got a mismatch,” said Mann. “And that’s what we think we have here with the reach that he [Bryant] has – the wingspan. We feel like we can get some cheap touchdowns down there.”
Prior to the Friday night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert weighed in on Bryant’s progress thus far in training camp during in interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
“He’s been working and growing,” Colbert said of Bryant. “You see the athleticism and the speed, and potential. Now he’s got to continue to grow. He’s a very young player with really only one year of significant playing experience at Clemson.”
So where does Bryant currently fit into the receiving core?
“I think that’s what he’s determining with his efforts,” Tomlin said Saturday.
