Happy Friday to yinz and welcome to the first full weekend of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2018 training camp.
It’s a great week to be alive with football somewhat officially back. The Steelers will don their pads for the first time on Saturday and thus it will really feel like football is back at that point. The Steelers first preseason game of 2018 is now less than two weeks away. Additionally, this weekend will be the last one without a football game for quite a while. It’s fleek, no?
On a personal note, I have worn my new CPAP apparatus every night since getting it last Friday and I really can’t tell any difference. It probably doesn’t help that I only sleep around three hours a night right now. With training camp starting, the site and podcast has me really busy. I go to bed around midnight or so and get up at 3:30 AM. Remember, I’m on PST. I guess I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead, right?
As usual, I have five questions for yinz to answer in the comments below on this glorious Friday night and I look forward to being entertained. I hope you are enjoying our training camp coverage thus far. Have a safe weekend and peace and love to all.
This will make your night:
#Steelers @AB84 doing @AB84 things pic.twitter.com/5A3gXOJzPS
— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) July 28, 2018
1 – Where are you at currently in this whole Tyler Matakevich versus Jon Bostic battle. Which one is your money on to win the staring job by the regular season?
2 – Are you bothered at all with the high profile arrivals to training camp that Steelers players have made over the many, many years?
3 – Should wide receiver Eli Rogers be considered a lock to make the Steelers 53-man roster this year now that he has been re-signed?
4 – With two days of training camp practices now in the books, what one nugget or tidbit that Alex Kozora has posted either in his reports or on Twitter has stuck out the most to you?
5 – Of Stephon Tuitt, T.J. Watt, and Joe Haden, which player is most likely to make the Pro Bowl in 2018?
Recap of 1 Week Until 2018 Training Camp: Steelers Friday Night 5 Questions
Question 1 – We named eleven possible landing spots for Le’Veon Bell in 2019. A full quarter of respondents say that he is moving in next door to Dave Bryan and will be signed by the Las Vegas Raiders. The New York Jets or the Cleveland Browns was the next most selected destination. Multiple votes were also given to the Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins & Detroit Lions. Getting single votes were the Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts, The New England Patriots and yes at least one of us is holding out hope that Pittsburgh will get Le’Veon back in 2019.
Question 2 – 92% of respondents believe the Steelers will select another running back in the first three rounds of the 2019 NFL draft. The few that don’t; see either the current running backs progressing and/or a running back being picked up in free agency.
Question 3 – We are believing that ben Roethlisberger will be more successful on the road this year. In 2018, 80% say that Ben’s quarterback rating will be higher than the 91.7 he achieved during road games in 2017.
Question 4 – We predict anywhere between 0-4 Steelers players will be on the team’s active/PUP list to start training camp at Latrobe. Surprisingly, JuJu Smith-Schuster was named the most often. Maybe concern that he will tweak his hamstring. Vance McDonald was next; people want him to prove he is not brittle. Eli Rogers got more than a few mentions. Folks still holding out hope he is signed by Pittsburgh again. Free agent safety Morgan Burnett was also on the list multiple times. Others mentioned were James Conner (knee); Jon Bostic; Xavier Grimble; Javon Hargrave; Joshua Frazier; Maurkice Pouncey; Stephon Tuitt & Dan McCullers. Remember, the Steelers do a conditioning test on Wednesday and those that fail end up on the PUP until they pass it. Ramon Foster told folks that it’s usually the small guys that flunk not the big ‘uns. UPDATE: Eli was signed and was placed on the PUP. Kudos to Wes Lee; Ravens Team Gynecologist & Beaver Falls Hosiery for making that call.
Question 5 – 14 different current head coaches were ranked in Steelers Depot respondent’s top five lists. Only Bill Belichick* of the NFL Patriots was named on 100% of the lists with an average rank of (1.1). Philadelphia Eagle’s Doug Pederson (2.8) and the Steeler’s Mike Tomlin (3.2) were on 67% of the lists. Pete Carroll (3.4) of the Seattle Seahawks was next at 58%. The New Orleans Saint’s Sean Payton (3.5) took the 5th position. Green Bay Packer’s coach Mike McCarthy (3.3) actually had a better average rank than Carroll or Payton but was named on only 37.5% of the Friday Night Questions responder’s lists so does not make the top 5.
*Caught Cheating by NFL
