Article

90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Monte Pottebaum, B.T. Potter, Elijah Riley

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 18, 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 Monte Pottebaum, B.T. Potter, and Elijah Riley.

FB Monte Pottebaum: The Steelers only signed six original undrafted free agents this past offseason and Pottebaum was one of them. The Iowa product played in 27 games over four college seasons on his way to registering 82 yards rushing and one touchdown on 20 total attempts. Additionally, Pottebaum chipped in 10 receptions for another 85 yards in his four years at Iowa.

Pottebaum mostly played fullback and special teams at Iowa and most of his playing time came in his final two seasons. At his 2023 Pro Day, Pottebaum measured in at 6012, 242 pounds with 31 1/4-inch arms. He did 21 reps on the bench and posted a short shuttle time of 4.23 seconds to go along with a 40-yard-dash time of 4.83 seconds.

Outlook: While Pottebaum’s college tape was indeed fun to watch, it’s going to be tough for him to make the Steelers’ 53-man roster this summer unless there are a few injuries. The Steelers appear set to utilize the position flexibility of tight end/fullback Connor Heyward in 2023 and if they also keep three other true tight ends on their Week One roster, it will be hard to carve out a spot for Pottebaum.

Pottebaum figures to be a strong special teams player out of the chute this summer and he’ll need to be if he wants to help his 53-man roster cause. He also should get a fair share of preseason snaps at fullback and those should be fun to watch. Even so, Pottebaum’s best chances of staying in Pittsburgh after the final roster cuts are made would be with him being a practice squad member. That’s certainly plausible and obtainable on his part.

K B.T. Potter: The Steelers had special teams coordinator Danny Smith at the Clemson Pro Day this offseason so it didn’t come as a huge surprise to see the team sign Potter as one of its undrafted free agents after the smoke had cleared. In five seasons at Clemson, Potter made 73 of his 97 total field goal attempts and 234 of his 235 total extra point attempts. He registered 34 field goals of 40-plus yards and nine that were 50-plus yards during his college career.

Potter played 56 games at Clemson and as you would expect, did a whole lot of kicking off there as well. He kicked off 449 times for 28,662 yards with 344 career touchbacks.

Outlook: The Steelers still have veteran kicker Chris Boswell and while he didn’t have a great 2022 season, injuries probably played a big part in that. Unless Boswell implodes or has more injuries this summer, Potter isn’t likely to overtake him to become the Steelers’ new kicker. Even so, Potter should be a great offseason kicker for the Steelers and one who should give Boswell a few days off.

S Elijah Riley: The Steelers claimed Riley off waivers from the New York Jets late last August, and after he failed to make the team’s final roster cut, he was signed to the practice squad at the start of the regular season. Riley did, however, find his way to Steelers’ active gameday roster four times last season. Three of those times came via standard elevations from the practice squad. The final time was him being signed off the practice squad in late December.

In total, Riley saw action in four regular-season games with the Steelers in 2022 on his way to recording five total tackles. He logged 20 total defensive snaps in those four games and 25 more on special teams. Two of his five tackles in those four games came on special teams.

Riley is a versatile player, having played both cornerback and safety in college at Army. The Steelers, however, view him as a safety in their defense.

Outlook: As versatile as Riley has been in the past, it will be very tough for him to make the 53-man roster later this summer. Quite honestly, it might take a few injuries for that to happen. The Steelers, however, might be interested in keeping Riley around as a practice squad player once again as not only is he position flexible, but he’s also a fairly decent special teams player. They kept him around for all of the 2022 season and that speaks volumes.

Related Items:2023 Training Camp, B.T. Potter, Elijah Riley, Monte Pottebaum

Steelers Depot

Recommended for you