Still Curtain
FanSided

Steelers Linebackers, Bell’s Value, Kraft Concedes

By Kim Myers

facebooktwitterreddit

The 2015 NFL Draft has come and gone and your Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 draft class is being inked up to contracts. There are just a few more phases of the offseason training program before the team breaks in June before training camp. While the new Steelers get acclimated with the Steel City we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Wednesday, May 20th.

More from Steelers News

Look into the crystal ball for how the linebackers will play out

Bob Labriola answered fans questions to the Steelers’ site and one of the biggest questions on everyone’s mind this offseason now that the draft is over is how will the linebacking corps shape up for the season. Who will get the starting jobs and who will keep the starting jobs? Craig even pondered the topic for the whole starting lineup as well.

Labriola says that it’s a scooch early for this type of question and the answer requires seeing into the future almost. His best guess is that first-round pick Bud Dupree, Arthur Moats, Anthony Chickillo and Shawn Lemon will be slated as left-outside linebackers while Jarvis Jones, James Harrison and Howard Jones will be on the right.

Outside linebackers coach Joey Porter has already expressed an interest in limiting Harrison’s snaps to keep him fresh so it would make the most sense to him to have Jarvis Jones opening up as starter on the right side with Arthur Moats starting on the left. If Dupree contributes quickly he could take over the starting job on the left by Thanksgiving with Jones, Moats, Harrison and Dupree ultimately seeing the most time overall.

I’d say he’s pretty damn valuable, Pat

Pat McManamon of ESPN took the analytics route to prove Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell‘s value to the team. His conclusion; the Steelers have a special running back. Astounding analysis. All you’d have to do is look at the Steelers’ offensive performance in the Wild Card loss to Baltimore in January to realize that Bell has made himself a pretty important fixture on this offense.

You can read further to find out how well Bell ranks among forcing missed tackles, yards after contact and all kinds of stats that showed why the Steelers offense went from high flying in the regular season in 2014 to almost impotent in the playoff loss without him.

Sure the Steelers will have to start the 2015 season without Bell, who will be serving his suspension, but at this point they have the entire offseason and training camp to prepare instead of a week of “Maybe he might play” going on.

He’s so noble

So before you get all excited about the Steelers Week 1 matchup against the Patriots without Tom Brady, let’s take a look at the events that played out yesterday. First, there was the report of the bro hug between Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft. Then, suddenly, Kraft gives a press conference conceding any attempts to appeal the punishment Goodell levied against the Patriots organization because of the Well’s Report findings.


No friggin way there wasn’t some back-end deal that includes a reduced or erased suspension for Tom Brady for Kraft to get up and say he won’t fight against the report he put out a 20,000-word response to refute it just the other friggin day.

Tom Brady and the NFLPA are still appealing the suspension and you can bet as sure as anything that he’ll get that reduced now. He’ll possibly still be out for the season opener against the Steelers but if he serves all four games I will buy a Brady jersey myself!

Next: Invitation to The Bus' HOF Induction

More from Still Curtain

Home/Steelers News