Now that training camp is over with the Pittsburgh Steelers back in Pittsburgh and gearing up for what they hope will be a much more productive season, it’s time to take stock of where the team stands. Specifically, where Steelers players stand individually based on what we have seen and are seeing over the course of training camp and the preseason and the regular season as it plays out. A stock evaluation can take a couple of different approaches and I’ll try to make clear my reasoning for each one. In some cases, it will be based on more long-term trends. In other instances, it will be a direct response to something that just happened. Because of this, we can and will see a player more than once over the course of the season as we move forward.
Player: OLB Malik Reed
Stock Value: Purchased
Reasoning: The Steelers added the veteran edge rusher via trade with the Denver Broncos to bring some much-needed experience to the room behind the starters, swapping late-round picks. Considering the other reserve outside linebacker is Jamir Jones, who was also just brought in (even if he has been in the defense before), there is no reason to think he won’t be the top reserve in Week 1.
Malik Reed isn’t quite Melvin Ingram, and he won’t have nearly as much time to prepare as the latter did, but for the second year in a row, the Steelers added an experienced veteran pass rusher to be their number three outside linebacker late in the offseason.
In Ingram’s case, he was signed as an unrestricted free agent just before training camp started. Reed was acquired on the day of final roster cuts via trade, a swap of late-round draft picks. He comes over from the Denver Broncos, where he was likely to be crowded out of a room headed by Bradley Chubb and Randy Gregory.
But he will fit in fine in the Steelers’ room, which now consists of T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and two players who have just been acquired in recent days. The other, Jamir Jones, at least has been in the team’s system before, just last year, but Reed should be the prohibitive favorite, by all means, to get on the field first.
A former college free agent, Reed is now a fourth-year player with 15 sacks to his name, along with 123 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles, all across a little under 2,000 defensive snaps played during that time.
He has played roughly 750 snaps per season over the past two years, and is also capable of being a contributor on special teams. While his larger defensive role in the past two years reduced his time logged there, he saw over 200 snaps as a special-teamer in 2019. He likely finds his way there in Pittsburgh, as well.
