The Pittsburgh Seelers have begun training camp and thus their depth has fallen from the start of training camp.
This is to be expected when the pads come on, but the offensive line position has been hurt the most.
The First Domino: Bryce Harris
The first loss on the offensive line is the loss of Bryce Harris. He failed the conditioning test the first day and was thus waived. The Steelers did not necessarily lose him but he instead showed that he is not ready to play in the league. He was a veteran and so the expectation was that he would be a body on the roster. His showing up to camp out of shape thins the depth of the Steelers on the offensive line.
Ramon Foster’s injury
The scariest moment of training camp was when Ramon Foster went down with a knee injury. The fear was that he could miss some time during the season and it was even speculated that he could miss the season. The injury ended up being a hyperextended knee with a bone bruise and that was a much better diagnosis than what it could have been. The yelp in pain and being carted off scared the fans. He is supposed to be out 4-5 weeks and that should be before their first game against the Browns.
There is some good news from this position as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Mike Munchak thinks that Chukswoma Okorafor is “holding his own.” The problems that the Steelers have had on the offensive line have called for a draft pick like Okorafor to step up. His “holding his own” makes it possible that he opens the season as an active player and the top backup at both the left tackle and right tackle positions. This was also made possible by the season-ending knee injury by Jerald Hawkins.
The other option is the Matt Feiler open the season as the top backup at tackle. He may get a helmet anyway if there are more injuries on the offensive line or Ramon Foster does not recover from his knee injury. Feiler started with the Steelers as a practice squad player and has been called up to the roster during the season. Last year, he was on the roster the entire season. Although he is most comfortable at guard, he is capable of playing all five positions on the offensive line. At this point, he is battling Chukswoma Okorafor for the job as the top swing tackle.