While it’s true that Chris Wormley grew up as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s also true that he has spent the past three season as a member of the Baltimore Ravens. In an interview after being traded to Pittsburgh, he told Missi Matthews that “it’s a huge adjustment” to jump onto the other side of the rivalry, but he doesn’t expect it to take long.
“Cam had texted me the day of the trade and just said ‘welcome to Pittsburgh’, and he’s excited to get to work, and I just shot him back, you know, ‘I can’t wait to get to work as well’”, he said, referring of course of Cameron Heyward. “It’s great to have his support behind me, but yeah, I’m gonna miss the guys in Baltimore, but looking forward to creating new friendships with the new teammates I have in Pittsburgh”.
To ease some of the burden, some of those guys won’t be there anymore. Michael Pierce, for example, signed elsewhere in free agency. While Brandon Williams remains at nose tackle, the new starting ends surrounding him will be Calais Campbell and Michael Brockers.
A former third-round pick by the Ravens in 2017, Wormley is a player that the Steelers were interested in that year, but he was selected by Baltimore relatively early in the third round, something like 12 picks after Pittsburgh selected JuJu Smith-Schuster at the end of the second. They had also signed Tyson Alualu in free agency the previous month.
He knows, however, that there was mutual interest, and now the two will be united, at least once everything settles down. For the time being, Wormley is appreciating the family time that he has in his Baltimore residence with his wife and newborn of three months. That doesn’t mean he isn’t thinking about getting on the field with his new teammates.
“Obviously Cam is the leader of that defensive line, he’s been there for so long, has so many accomplishments, Pro Bowls, All-Pros, things like that”, he said. “Stephon, he’s also a great defensive lineman too, so I’m ready to learn from those guys. [Tyson Alualu] has been in the league for 10-plus years now, too, so I’m excited to learn from those guys, excited to play with those guys each and every Sunday”.
While they lost a major piece of the line this offseason in Javon Hargrave, Wormley could prove to be a significant addition as well to complement Heyward, Tuitt, and Alualu, while Isaiah Buggs continues to develop. It is likely that the Steelers will still address the position during the 2020 NFL Draft as well.
