We are now at a point during the offseason in which we find ourselves looking at training camp just around the corner for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the league, and a lot has changed for them over the course of the past several months. They have lost a number of players in free agency, through releases, and retirements. But they have also brought in a number of new faces to replace them.
We all know that roster turnover is an ever-present reality for today’s rosters, and it seems that over the course of the past half-decade or so even the Steelers have proven to be as susceptible to the annual shakeup as anybody. With that in mind, we should take the time to get to know some of the new faces with training camp soon to be here.
Since we talked about Keith Kelsey yesterday, it’s only fair to discuss his main competition for a spot on the practice squad, as spot that may not even be there. As my 53-man roster prediction earlier today…well, predicts, it is quite possible that the Steelers keep five inside linebackers on the 53-man roster and none on the practice squad.
But anyway, Kelsey’s competition is Pittsburgh linebacker Matt Galambos. Like Kelsey, Galambos is a rookie undrafted free agent signing. Unlike him, though, Galambos was not signed initially. He was invited on a tryout basis to attend the Steelers’ rookie minicamp and performed well enough to be signed to a contract for their 90-man roster.
Both undrafted rookies performed well during their preseason debut, but while Kelsey had to his advantage two tackles on special teams, I think that Galambos was the better performer on the defensive side of the ball. I would actually have to go back and look for Galambos on special teams to see what he accomplished, because he did not stand out.
Still, Galambos appears to be the slightly more athletic and instinctive of the two. Neither of them possess very much athleticism relative to the standard at the position, but both seem to be pretty instinctive.
Alex Kozora has generally been writing positive reviews of the Pittsburgh product’s showings in training camp so far, and that is admittedly much of what my own analysis is based on, since of course I’m not in training camp.
But his preseason showing would seem to confirm a lot of what has been written about him already. Still, he will need to do more, including on special teams, if he wants to force the Steelers to carry potentially up to 12 total linebackers between the 53-man roster and the 10-man practice squad.
