Pre or post contract, David DeCastro is a man of few words.
For one of the league’s throwback linemen, you’d expect no less.
His entire Steelers.com interview, the first posted since his new, 5 year, $50 million extension, barely lasts a minute. And that’s including the introduction. But DeCastro is excited to be in Pittsburgh, just as fans are excited to know he’s here to stay.
“It’s nice it’s done,” he told reporters. “Nice weight off your shoulders. Sigh of relief. Just happy you can just worry about playing football now.”
Contract was probably always in the back of his mind but never let it become a distraction.
“I tried not to think about it early on. It was the business back-and-forth side of it. I was just hopeful I could stay here.
This week, when we were getting closer, it was obviously harder to push back. But once it was done, it was done.”
With that, as Matthew Marczi wrote about yesterday, the Steelers have locked up another one of their offensive line draft picks to a long-term deal. He joins Maurkice Pouncey – 5 years, $44.1 million – and Marcus Gilbert – 5 years, $30.8 million. Ramon Foster was also extended in the offseason though to a much smaller amount.
Now it’s time for DeCastro and the rest of the line to keep proving their investment.
“We do. We definitely do. We talk about it. We want to do that. that’s what you want to do when you get piad. You’re given a lot of opportunity and you want to go out and work hard.”
The Steelers rushing attack averaged 4.4 yards per carry, good enough for 8th in the league, and 16 rushing touchdowns, tied for 6th in the league with a host of teams. DeCastro was a key cog in that unit and the team’s best puller last season with Pouncey out, a staple in this system that led to numerous big plays. His pass protection has improved every season, too, maybe not to an elite level, but a very good one.
