Winners and losers of Steelers preseason win over Buccaneers

Losers:

Justin Layne

Layne got some much needed NFL action Friday night, but the 21-year old quarterback is noticeably raw. He often gave up too much cushion, and misses a few key tackles against the run. We won’t panic after one preseason showing, but he certainly has a long ways to go still.

Benny Snell Jr.

Benny Snell was another rookie who didn’t do much in the way of impressing Friday night. He was given 13 opportunities to carry the ball, but managed just 26 yards (2.0 ypc).  It wasn’t all his fault, as the offensive line was quick to fall apart at times, but we would have liked to see a better performance from him.

Kevin Rader

Rader had an outside (albeit unrealistic) shot to land on the roster as the team’s 3rd tight end, but he didn’t do anything to help himself in his first preseason action of 2019. Rader fumbled his lone catch away. He would need monster performances moving forward to have a chance to stick around.

Chukwuma Okorafor

Okorafor was beat easily and often Friday night against the Buccaneers. The Steelers were hoping that he would be able to challenge Matt Feiler for the starting right tackle role this season, but he appears to be battling Zach Banner for the swing role at this point. He appears to be a long way from contributing on this team.

Wins and losses don’t amount to much in preseason and have no bearing on how the season will play out. Though there were several young Steelers who were disappointing, the majority of them had impressive games Friday night. We will monitor their progression closely as we move on to week two.