With training camp just around the corner, it’s time to turn our focus on what is going on within each position, and on the roster as a whole. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at some of the roster battles that we expect to see unfold over the course of training camp as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for the start of the 2023 season.
This year, there will be no quarterback competition overshadowing everything that goes on at Latrobe, but there will still be plenty of battles to sift through, both in the starting lineup and in depth. The Steelers added many new faces this offseason, rookie and veteran alike, and it’s in training camp that we begin to see where all the pieces fit.
Position: Running Back
Up for Grabs: Depth
In the Mix: Anthony McFarland Jr., Jason Huntley, Alfonzo Graham, Darius Hagans
The Steelers are hoping to go out in 2023 and prove that they have one of the very best running back tandems in football with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Ideally, the two of them will make the rest of the depth chart irrelevant, as they largely were outside of a couple of games last year.
But even if fit is for a couple of games, the odds are there will be a point in any given season in which it will matter, and you don’t want to find yourself wishing you put more effort into acquiring and developing talent to round out your depth.
This year, the Steelers’ competitors for the third running back spot consist of two players from last year’s practice squad and two rookie college free agents. The pre-determined favorites come one from each group—Anthony McFarland Jr., who spent the 2020-21 seasons on the 53-man roster, and Alfonzo Graham, who generated some buzz during spring practices.
Barring the as-of-now-unlikely return of Benny Snell Jr. to the roster, McFarland represents the safe option, a slightly experienced veteran who is already versed in what the Steelers want to do. Huntley has a similar level of experience, albeit with three different teams, from the same draft as well, one round later. He was on Pittsburgh’s practice squad all season; McFarland was called up for one game and performed well.
In addition to Graham, the Steelers added a second rookie college free agent in Darius Hagans. Both are products of HBCUs and seemingly the end result of the team’s scouting of the HBCU Combine and Legacy Bowl. Both backs participated in both events, at which Pittsburgh had a heavier presence than arguably any other team.
If either of them turn out to be worthy of a spot on the 53-man roster, it will be a credit to the depth and breath of the front office’s research—at least in part, the other being the otherwise limited depth that they had at the position beforehand.
