David DeCastro noticed how ‘things have changed’ for the Steelers
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers made a lot of changes this offseason. Here are the differences All-Pro guard, David DeCastro, noticed in his team so far.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have gone through a season of change in just a few months time. Le’Veon Bell – an All-Pro running back who sat out the entire 2018 season – joined the New York Jets this offseason. Likewise, Antonio Brown forced his way out of Pittsburgh to be with the Raiders.
There is no doubt that the Steelers had more than their fair share of distractions to deal with this offseason. But could changes in the locker room occur simply from ditching a few players over the past couple months.
David DeCastro seems to think so.
Today marks the first day of Steelers mini camp, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN recently caught up with DeCastro. In a tweet from Fowler, the All-Pro guard had this to say about the shape of the Steelers:
Steelers guard David DeCastro says he's noticed "things have changed pretty well around here," believes everyone is on same page and "team-oriented. That's the biggest step."
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) June 11, 2019
Though David DeCastro didn’t come right out and use the words ‘locker room’, it can easily be inferred that these positive changes were coming due to a lack of distractions in the locker room.
DeCastro made it a point to emphasize that they are ‘team-oriented’ – something Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell were clearly not.
In January, former NFL player and Fox sportscaster, Mark Schlereth had this to say about Antonio Brown on Speak for Yourself:
"When we play football, it’s the ultimate team game. [Antonio Brown] is the ultimate in selfishness. Football is about caring more about the guys you play with than what you care about yourself…. Ten guys have to do their job before you can even sniff the football, and how you don’t understand that, I don’t get that part of it… [Antonio Brown] just strikes me as a guy that can lose a game and be completely satisfied as long as he’s got 10 catches for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns."
Schlereth’s statements were pretty strong against Brown’s personality. It’s interesting to note that former Steelers safety, Ryan Clark (who was part of the show) followed up Schlereth’s comments by saying he was ‘100 percent accurate.’
David DeCastro would know as well as anyone what types of things went on in the Steelers locker room, and it didn’t take an inside man to see that Brown and Bell were in it for themselves.
Whatever the reason, DeCastro now claims that ‘things have changed pretty well around here.’ Obviously, every Steelers fan is hoping the drama is now behind us so that we can focus on football and the upcoming 2019 season.