Every Sunday during the offseason I plan on recapping for you seven items related to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the NFL that may have fallen through the cracks the past week that should be worth your time to read. This weekly feature will be entitled “Steelers’ Seven Shots.”
Shot #1 – Remember former NFL defensive back Myron Rolle, who was a Rhodes Scholar and then enrolled in medical school? Well, the Florida State product will begin a neurosurgery residency at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on July 1, according to Erika Fernandez of WCTV. Rolle, who was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, was with the Steelers in 2012. He played in three preseason games for the Steelers that year before being waived by the team.
Shot #2 – Wisconsin edge rusher T.J. Watt worked out at his pro day last week and as we already reported, Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter was there to put him through the paces as was New York Jets linebackers coach Kevin Greene. Watt talked about what he learned from the two coaches after his workout was over and you can see the interview below.
Shot #3 – Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks of the NFL Network have been busy on the Move The Sticks Podcast identifying “Perfect Pairs” — the ideal top two picks — for each team leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft. Last week the two focused on the AFC North teams and for the Steelers they chose Temple linebacker Haason Reddick at pick 30 in the first round and Ashland tight end Adam Shaheen in the second round at pick 62 overall. You can see them discussing these possible selections here.
Shot #4 – A large selection of vintage Steelers memorabilia that included several game-worn jerseys were auctioned on Friday and into Saturday morning by lelands.com and they fetched a total of $327,055. Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a run-down of a lot of the items that were auctioned with a portion of the proceeds going to the Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research.
Shot #5 – I was going back through some old tape on Steelers new wide receiver Justin Hunter and came across his longest career NFL touchdown reception that came during the 2014 season and against the Cleveland Browns. The Tennessee Titans quarterback who threw Hunter this pass was none other than Charlie Whitehurst, who is also known as Clipboard Jesus. In coverage was cornerback Buster Skrine.
Shot #6 – Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin made his annual visit to Bradenton, FL this past week to check on the Pittsburgh Pirates as they begin to start wrapping up their spring training. Tomlin talked to the Pirate media who are on hand Friday and made it clear that he could probably find a way to use Pittsburgh first basemen Josh Bell on his football team.
Shot #7 – Former Steelers quarter Kordell Stewart was awarded $3 million in damages this past week from a blogger who claimed he and Stewart had a homosexual relationship.
