Steelers News: Jones, Roster, Dupree

Aug 9, 2015; Canton, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree (48) looks on against the Minnesota Vikings in the 2015 Hall of Fame game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 9, 2015; Canton, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree (48) looks on against the Minnesota Vikings in the 2015 Hall of Fame game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Steelers are officially on summer vacation as the offseason workout program wrapped up and they won’t come back together until reporting to training camp later next month.

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Steelers season never really ends for Steeler nation so while the Steelers players get their minds and bodies right to embark on the 2016 regular season we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Tuesday, June 21st.

Confidence Jones

There will be two Jones’ on the Steelers roster who will be playing for their jobs this season. Both were drafted in 2013 and both are on the last year of their rookie contract. Linebacker Jarvis Jones will be trying to prove his worth as the number one draft pick while quarterback Landry Jones tries to build confidence.

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Landry Jones saw his first regular season action last year when

Ben Roethlisberger

was injured and

Michael Vick

was ineffective but the offseason move to re-sign

Bruce Gradkowski

points to the feeling that his inconsistencies don’t instill confidence to have him behind Roethlisberger on the depth chart.

Teresa Varley has Steelers quarterback coach Randy Fichtner’s comments on how Jones is building on the confidence he gained from finally getting on the field. If Jones can’t keep the confidence in him of the coaches, then he’ll give them no reason to re-sign him.

Bulking up

We’re still a ways away from the Steelers narrowing down their roster to the 53-man roster mandated by the league to start the season with and still a ways away from training camp position battles shaping up to help determine that roster.

Still, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler takes this time to predict the 53-man roster and he predicts the Steelers will go with ten linebackers. Ryan Shazier, Lawrence Timmons, James Harrison, Jarvis Jones, Bud Dupree, Arthur Moats, Vince Williams, Anthony Chickillo, Travis Feeney and Steven Johnson round out the group.

What do you think?

The dreaded rookie wall

Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree is looking to have a successful sophomore season after a rookie season that saw him slump down the stretch. Dupree had four sacks in his first eight games of the season but none the rest of the year, as reminded by Around the NFL’s Kevin Patra.

Next: Steelers top tier linemen DeCastro and Gilbert

Dupree is looking to climb over that rookie wall and make a sophomore leap. The Steelers defense could certainly benefit from him turning into a quarterback harasser.

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