The calendar has now flipped over to July and that means the Pittsburgh Steelers annual training camp will be getting underway in Latrobe later this month. As usual, we have several series planned to get you ready for this year’s training camp and mine will center around preview profiles of 50 players over the course of the next 25 days. Most of these profiles will be on players who were under contract with the team in 2016.
Moving onto fifth round pick Brian Allen.
Intro: Allen continues the mold of the new-type of cornerbacks the Steelers are looking for. Long, tall, and able to press in man coverage. He didn’t have a lot of experience at corner at Utah, transitioning from wide receiver midway through his career, but has high upside.
Current Strengths: Height/weight/speed guy. Able to press and play man coverage. Uses length well to combat catches at catch points. Able to make plays on the ball most others can’t. Profiles as a strong special teamer on coverage units. Stays in-phase. Willing tackler.
Current Weaknesses: Inexperienced and lacks nuances the position will demand. Will have to be a more consistent tackler. Has to show mental toughness for rough patches that are likely to happen.
2017 Outlook: Allen has to make the 53 man roster first but his size and run-and-hit nature on the coverage unit. If he makes the team, that’s what his role will be but it’s one he could be really good at. While some think he could be used in sub-packages against big tight ends, he’s likely too raw and uncomfortable playing in that much space to do so right away.
2017 Base Salary: $465,000
2017 Salary Cap Charges: $522,547
2017 Health Status: No known injuries
2016 Health Status: No known injuries
2016 Regular Season Snaps Played: N/A
2016 Stat That Matters: All four interceptions came over a four game span
2016 Stats:
| G | Tkl | TFL | INT | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 35 | 4.5 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
2016 Highlights:
