Each of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first three opponents this season are all teams about whom some of their free agent pickups should have some intimate knowledge of. Larry Ogunjobi played for the Cincinnati Bengals last year, their week one opponent, and prior to that, he spent four years with their week three opponent, the Cleveland Browns.
Up next, however, is the New England Patriots, who carried Gunner Olzsewski as their return man for the past three seasons. They decided not to offer him a restricted free agent tender this year and allowed him to walk, signing with the Steelers. He’s looking to do whatever he can, not only to help the Steelers beat his former team, but also show them what they’re missing.
“Sure, I try to, but I’m not gonna tell ‘em nothing if it ain’t 100 percent, unless I’m for sure about it”, he told reporters on Friday when he was asked if he had shared any intel with the team about the Patriots based on his experience there.
“They’ve had some coaching changes over there, so I’m not 100 percent sure what they’re doing on the offensive side or even the defensive side anymore”, he added. “Stuff that I see, sure, I’ll mention it, but these coaches do this for a living, break down film, so I’m sure I can’t tell them something they don’t already know”.
There might be some little tips here and there he could pass along, but of course Bill Belichick and the rest of that coaching staff is going to be amply aware of who’s over there now. After all, this is a team that just brought in Ron’Dell Carter for a workout after he spent a cup of coffee with the Steelers during the preseason. Purely by coincidence of course.
Even though New England took the time to convert him to wide receiver when he got to the NFL level, however, Olszewski never really got the chance to show them what he can offer in that role, because he got very little playing time. He’s hoping to give them a first-hand look at it tomorrow.
“Yeah, definitely. Anytime I get the ball I want to do something with it”, he told reporters about having a desire to perform for the Patriots and demonstrate the skills he didn’t get the chance to show. “Playing the old team, the team that didn’t want you, sure, I want to go out there and show what I can do”.
Granted, he only played nine snaps on offense in the season opener for the Steelers, and was not targeted, and there’s no compelling reason to assume that he’ll have a bigger role tomorrow than he did a week ago. But if he’s on the field and he gets open, there’s that chance. And maybe they’ll even want to feed him a ball or two, under the circumstances.
