It’s been a very interesting week for the Pittsburgh Steelers to say the least as their 53-man roster now includes 3 new players who weren’t on it last week. Now that the team has moved on from former third-round draft pick Dri Archer, newcomer Isaiah Pead might very well wind up getting a helmet Sunday for the game against the Oakland Raiders.
During his Tuesday press conference, head coach Mike Tomlin said that while he believes Pead can help the team at some point this season, he must first get himself up to speed as quickly as possible in order to give himself an opportunity to get on the field.
“As we prepare this week, we’re going to prepare with the men that have been here, that know what do and can detail their assignments and we’ll see how Pead progresses in terms of learning what to do,” said Tomlin. “When he’s above-the-line from that standpoint, we’ll utilize his skill set, but as I sit here today, obviously, he’s just starting that process, so I don’t have a lot to comment on that, or what he may be able to do for us.”
Pead, a former second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams, knows he must pick up the offense and terminology as fast as possible and judging by his Wednesday comments, it appears as though he’s doing just that.
“I feel like I am learning something new every two seconds,” said Pead, according to steelers.com. “I am staying in the playbook, continuing to ask questions even if it’s repetitive so I can keep everything fresh in my mind and coach knows I am trying to learn everything perfectly.
“Naturally you want to learn everything right now, as soon as they tell it to you. I am going to do my best at that. Special teams, that is just playing ball. That is something that just being an athlete I can go out and play. As far as learning the plays at running back, you want to get out there, you have to be patient, but you want to be aggressively patient.”
At best, Pead will be the Steelers No. 3 running back this Sunday behind DeAngelo Williams and Jordan Todman. If he does indeed dress, he’ll probably have to play on special teams and that likely means covering kickoffs. During Pead’s rookie season, he registered only one total special teams tackle. In 2013, however, he had a total of three. Last year, he only dressed for two games and failed to crack the stat sheet on special teams.
The Steelers list of seven inactives for the Raiders game will be released 90 minutes before kickoff and after what transpired on Thursday, Pead’s name now isn’t likely to be included on it.
