Steelers stock rising/falling after preseason game one

The Pittsburgh Steelers took to Heinz Field for the first time since December and played actual football. As always, there were things players did to raise their stock and there were also players that hurt themselves in the game.

The Steelers first preseason game was actually entertaining with a lot of scoring and good action throughout. The Steelers saw many of their starters not dress and the ones who did were not in long.

Pittsburgh’s defense saw just two starters play, Terrell Edmunds and Javon Hargrave. They did not play long but Edmunds did make a couple good plays including a pass breakup on what would have been a touchdown.

The team saw a lot of their younger guys and guys fighting for depth spots on the team. They all stood out but some for the right reasons and some for reasons that may find them their walking papers by September.

Mason Rudolph: Stock up

Rudolph came in after Josh Dobbs started the game. Josh Dobbs had some good plays but he wasn’t out of this world or anything like that.

Rudolph has had a great camp and that translated into game action. Rudolph finished 5/8 for 91 yards and two touchdowns.

Rudolph’s throws were placed well, especially his two touchdowns. The first touchdown was to James Washington in the front corner of the end zone where he placed it perfectly on his back shoulder and outside for Washington to make the adjustment.

On his second touchdown throw, he showed good pocket presence and awareness as he stayed within the great pocket provided by his offensive line this bought time for Zach Gentry to come open in the back of the end zone and Rudolph to hit him high for the score.

Overall Rudolph had great ball placement and his pocket presence and movement was very good. He has had a great camp and is looking to move ahead of Josh Dobbs as the backup quarterback in 2019.

Justin Layne: Stock down

Layne was the Steelers third-round pick in the 2019 draft. His long frame and man cover skills were a big reason they brought him in.

Layne played nearly all the game and that is likely due to injuries to corners in camp. This also is likely to get him reps to help him develop his game in all areas as the Steelers likely want him to see the field in meaningful snaps during the season.

He looked like a rookie in the game which is to be expected but it does hurt him some. He has only played corner for a few years after switching to the position in college.

He played off the line more than you would like to see in the first few drives and the Buccaneers took advantage of that early, completing passes to his side.

He also struggled coming up to make the tackle and that was abundantly evident on a screen pass where he whiffed allowing Chris Godwin to score a nine yard touchdown. He will need to improve mightily upon this game to try to take a number four or five spot in the corner pecking order.

Chris Boswell: Stock up

Boswell had a very bad 2018 and that might be being too nice. He was one of the worst kickers in the league after having a great year in 2017.

Boswell has some competition this year in Matthew Wright who looks to put the pressure on him. Boswell has shone promise in camp and brought that into the game going two-for-two on field goals including a 47-yard long. He also made his lone extra point attempt.

The Steelers postponed a $2 million bonus to Boswell that was due early in the league year. That bonus was pushed back to September 1 which is also when teams will be cutting rosters down.

Holding the bonus and giving him competition puts a lot of pressure on Boswell to perform. The Steelers desperately need him to bounce back after his woeful 2018 that cost them a few games.

Boswell has taken all the pressure well and needs to continue that for him to earn back the trust of the team.

Devin Bush: Stock up

Bush has been the most anticipated player fans wanted to see in live game action. He did not disappoint them in his debut.

Bush made the first tackle of the game on a run up the middle and continued from there. He flew all around the field making plays himself or being near the ball nearly every snap.

Bush finished the day with 10 total tackles, seven of those being solo, and was involved in a fourth down stop with Ola Adeniyi. He also had a good pass deflection, that he would tell you should have been an interception, but the play was called back.

Bush’s ability to fly around the way he did is just what the Steelers defense needed after losing Ryan Shazier. Bush looked like he belonged there and the Steelers couldn’t have asked for much more from their first round pick.

The Steelers made a big trade up to get Bush and he is already paying dividends for it. Bush can help get the defense over the hump in 2019  by helping to create turnovers and flying around and making big plays.

Benny Snell: Stock down

Snell didn’t have an overly terrible game but his 2.0 yards per carry will land him here. He got a majority of the running back work and didn’t do much with his 13 carries.

Snell didn’t do a ton to really stand out and possibly take meaningful reps away from Jaylen Samuels in the regular season.

Snell did have some good pass play reps. He had a key reception on a third down pass and gained the first down yardage in a show of good field awareness.

Snell also had a couple of good pass protection reps in the game. These were good plays but it was not enough to stand out for consideration of number two reps at running back.

He did not seem to have a quick burst out of the backfield and did not get much push on his carries. He is a rookie and perfectly capable of being a third running back for now but I look for him to improve simply because his work ethic is so highly praised everywhere he goes.

The Steelers had plenty of others perform well such as Ola Adeniyi, Ulysees Gilbert, Robert Spillane and Johnny Holton but this article would never end if we raved about all those that did well. We will continue to analyze and talk about who is standing out and who is falling behind as we inch toward a 53-man roster and regular season football.