Though Roosevelt Nix is no longer a Steeler, he’s still working out with a current one. Nix and second year running back Benny Snell have evidently been training together throughout the offseason, judging by this photo now retired guard Ramon Foster sent out on Tuesday.
It’s not a shock to see Snell and Nix link back up. They’re both from Ohio, hometowns separated by just 16 miles. Unfortunately, the two didn’t get to team up in the backfield much in 2019. Nix spent most of the year injured with a knee injury, placed on IR in mid-November. The Steelers’ run game missed his presence, struggling to run the ball in short-yardage situations.
Nix was released once the team signed Derek Watt in free agency. He inked a deal with the Indianapolis Colts on April 11th.
Young guys like Snell have had to take it upon themselves to get ready for the 2020 season, assuming there still is on, without having OTAs and minicamp to ramp back up. They’re better off than rookies reaching the NFL for the first time but plenty of second-year players were counting on this offseason being a springboard to successful sophomore seasons.
Snell looks to entrench himself firmly as the team’s #2 running back behind James Conner this season. As a rookie, he carried the ball 108 times for 426 yards and two touchdowns. He became just one of six rookie Steeler backs to record 100+ carries his first season joining Le’Veon Bell, Bam Morris, Tim Worley, Rich Erenberg, and Franco Harris.
Depth here is a little muddy with Snell, rookie Anthony McFarland, Jaylen Samuels, and Kerrith Whyte Jr. As we showed in a recent video, Snell is an impressively complete back for how young he is and will look to make the second-year jump just as Le’Veon Bell and James Conner did before him.
