Steelers Signings, 10 Things About Garoppolo, Projected Starters

The 2015 NFL Draft has come and gone and your Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 draft class is preparing for the season. 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 Friday, May 15^th.

Dupree and James Sign

And then there were two. The Steelers announced on Thursday that they have come to terms on a four-year deal with their fifth-round selection, tight end Jesse James. James was the 160^th overall pick in the draft out of Penn State.

James is a local guy who played high school football for South Allegheny and is glad to be back in Western PA. He caught 78 passes for 1,005 yards and 11 touchdowns in his career at Penn State, setting the record for touchdown receptions as a tight end for Penn State.

Later on Thursday the team announced that they have inked their first-round draft pick, Bud Dupree to a four-year deal. Dupree was the 22nd overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Kentucky. He finished his career at Kentucky with 247 tackles and 23.5 sacks, ranking second-highest in sacks in Kentucky football history.

The Steelers still have Sammie Coates and Gerod Holliman left to sign to have their entire 2015 Draft Class officially inked as Steelers.

10 Things I Hate About You

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler would like to give Steelers fans some info on the likely starter for the Week 1 matchup against the New England Patriots, Jimmy Garoppolo. Tom Brady officially appealed his four-game suspension on Thursday afternoon but in all likeliness he’ll at least end up serving one game of that four-game suspension or Rogeez is going to look mighty foolish.

A few of Fowler’s noteworthy things to learn about Garoppolo is that he ‘looks like a linebacker’ and is proficient in the no-huddle, spread offense. Of course, now he’s a disciple of whatever Bill Belichick tells him to be. One thing I found funny was that Fowler noted how Garoppolo “knows how to embrace the big stage” and cited his performance in the 2014 Senior Bowl as proof.

I know a few draft nuts like our buddy Dom who watch the Senior Bowl religiously every year but I hardly think even Dom would agree that the “stage” would compare to the prime-time NFL season opener as the starting quarterback for the defending Super Bowl Champions. But hey, I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Projected Week 1 Steelers Starting Lineup

Around the NFL’s Marc Sessler took the opportunity now that the NFL Draft is over to see how the draft picks might affect the starting lineup for each of the AFC North teams. What’s interesting here is that he doesn’t have a single rookie starting Week 1 for the Steelers.

Projected 2015 starters: Pittsburgh Steelers from nfl.com

Naturally, the regular starting RB would be Le’Veon Bell but he’ll be serving at least a three-game suspension and will definitely be out for the season opener. What is interesting is to see James Harrison projected to be the starter at the outside linebacker position even after OLB Coach Joey Porter made a point to say that Harrison’s snaps will be limited this year.

It is good to see Shamarko Thomas’ name on a starting roster and also frightening to see William Gay and Cortez Allen as the starting corners. We’re still roughly 118 days and a few hours away from kickoff, so there’s plenty of time.

Who would you project to be the Steelers’ opening day starters?

Next: Steelers Pouncey #83 in NFL's Top 100

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