With the Steelers taking a slew of young players into training camp, here are the veterans that could see their jobs taken by a rookie.
With the draft and undrafted pool of players settled for the Steelers, the talk now becomes who is in line to claim a roster spot and who isn’t. Veterans will try to defend their spots from these rookies as everyone being brought into camp are trying to stake their claim at a spot on the depth chart. Here are the four veterans in danger of losing their spots to rookies.
Zach Gentry
To say that Zach Gentry has little security to make the roster isn’t a long shot, but the style of player that the Steelers drafted in Pat Freiermuth makes Gentry’s odds even worse. Freiermuth is a prototypical complete tight end, as he can throw his weight around as a blocker and make competitive catches down the field. This is the same style of player that Gentry was supposed to be if he had completely developed. Unfortunately, he hasn’t developed really nor done much during his limited time on the roster.
While Freiermuth slotting in as the second-string tight end doesn’t push Gentry off the roster, it makes his odds that much worse. As of now, his main competition is Kevin Rader, who seems to be a better blocker and special teams contributor based on his limited play with the team so far. While Gentry may have the higher ceiling as a receiving threat (and even that may be a stretch), Rader can do the necessary dirty work of a third-string tight end. Had the Steelers no drafted a much better version of Gentry this season, the argument could be made for him to be kept. As of now though, it seems like his time with the team is coming to a close.