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90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Chapelle Russell, Isaac Seumalo, Chandon Sullivan

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 21, 2023 at 8:15 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is their annual training camp, which gets underway in late July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time for you as part of a 30-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow.

The next three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2023 training camp are Chapelle Russell, Isaac Seumalo, and Chandon Sullivan.

ILB Chapelle Russell: After spending time last summer with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Russell found himself on the Steelers’ practice squad at the start of the 2022 regular season. To his credit, Russell was able to stick on the practice squad for the entire 2022 season, quite a feat with all of the transactions that take place throughout a year. Even so, the Temple product, who entered the NFL in 2020 as a seventh-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, still failed to see any time on the Steelers’ Active/Inactive roster in 2022.

For his NFL career, Russell has played in 27 regular-season games with one start. He has recorded 18 total tackles and has played 95 defensive snaps and 407 special teams snaps. His last NFL playing time came during the 2021 season with the Jaguars. It’s worth noting that he did have four total special teams tackles that season.

Outlook: It’s going to be extremely hard for Russell to make the Steelers’ 53-man roster and for obvious reasons as the team signed two veteran inside linebackers back in the spring in the form of Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts. Additionally, the Steelers have another young inside linebacker in Mark Robinson and two other experienced special teamers at the position in Tanner Muse and Nick Kwiatkoski.

Fortunately for Russell, he does have some NFL experience on special teams in addition to being on the practice squad all of last season. Should he stick out this summer in training camp and the preseason, he should have a decent shot at being a post-cut-down practice squad player once again.

G Isaac Seumalo: The Steelers signed Seumalo to a three-year, $24 million contract in the initial stages of free agency this offseason and now the former member of the Philadelphia Eagles is expected to be their new starting left guard. Selected by the Eagles in the third round (79th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Oregon State, Seumalo has gone on to play in 81 regular-season games with 60 starts over the course of his first seven NFL seasons. Seumalo also has playoff experience to the tune of nine games with six starts.

Last season, Seumalo played 1,137 offensive snaps with the Eagles in the regular season with most of those coming at right guard. Pro Football Focus gave him a 2022 regular-season grade of 75.2 and charged him with just one sack, three quarterback hits and 16 hurries in 653 pass-blocking opportunities. He was also charged with five more hurries during the 2022 postseason.

Outlook: With the Steelers in 2023, Seumalo will be expected to be the new left guard. Last season, that job belonged to Kevin Dotson. With Seumalo being around the NFL block a few times, hopefully, he become a veteran leader in the offensive line room in 2023. The Steelers will likely transition to rookie tackle Broderick Jones as their left-side starter at some point during the 2023 season, and whenever that does happen, a veteran Seumalo will hopefully help guide the young Georgia product as he gets his NFL feet established.

The Steelers will likely play a lot of bully-ball in 2023 so Seumalo will be expected to play a big part in that being successful as an interior portion of the offensive line. He figures to mesh well with his right-side counterpart, center Mason Cole. The 2023 season will hopefully be the first of three successful ones in Pittsburgh for Seumalo. The Steelers really need him to be a free agent signing hit right out of the chute.

CB Chandon Sullivan: The Steelers signed Sullivan during the 2023 NFL Draft weekend and his addition was a cheap one. Last season with the Minnesota Vikings, Sullivan, who entered the NFL in 2018 as an undrafted free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles, played in all 17 regular-season games with 10 starts. He recorded 60 total tackles, two for loss, seven passes defensed, one fumble recovery and one quarterback hit in 2022. He played a total of 945 defensive snaps in 17 games last season and 30 more on special teams. In the playoffs last year, Sullivan recorded four total tackles and a pass defensed in the Vikings’ loss to the New York Giants.

For his NFL career, Sullivan has played in 71 regular-season games with 31 starts. He has registered five interceptions, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, 23 passes defended and 169 total tackles. He will turn 27 years of age by the start of the 2023 regular season.

Outlook: Sullivan figures to be in the mix to be the Steelers’ nickel cornerback for the 2023 season. He should have plenty of competition for that spot and within that, his former Vikings teammate, cornerback Patrick Peterson, could have a role in some sub-packages. Based on Sullivan’s play in the NFL to date, it’s hard to imagine him being the team’s all-situations nickel. We’ll see.

Sullivan has never been a huge special teams asset since entering the NFL and that’s a bit cornering, especially if he isn’t given a large nickel role come the start of the regular season. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers bring in another experienced nickel option closer to the start of the regular season. If they do that, there’s an outside chance that Sullivan could be jettisoned after the preseason smoke clears.

Related Items:2023 Training Camp, Chandon Sullivan, Chapelle Russell, Isaac Seumalo

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