The Pittsburgh Steelers surprisingly brought in Trai Turner for a visit. Here’s why this could be bad news for offensive guard, David DeCastro.
The Steelers visit with offensive guard, Trai Turner, on Friday certainly has me intrigued. Though the seven-year veteran left the facility without a contract, the fact that he had a visit with Pittsburgh in the first place is more than enough to stir up some legitimate questions.
Turner isn’t your run-of-the-mill, replacement-level offensive guard. Since joining the NFL in 2014, Turner has been selected to the Pro Bowl 5 times and has been considered among the best offensive guards in the league over that span.
If there’s one positional group along the offensive line that we thought we had in place entering training camp, it was guard. David DeCastro was set to resume his role as the team’s starting right guard, while Kevin Dotson seemed to be the lone bright spot along the offensive line in limited action last year. He is expected to slide in at left guard full-time with the departure of Matt Feiler.
However, Turner’s visit is particularly intriguing, and this could potentially mean there is some bad news coming from DeCastro. Though I don’t what to speculate as to exactly what that could be, all signs seem to be pointing in that direction.
Why Steelers interest in Turner could be bad for DeCastro
There are a number of reasons to point the finger at DeCastro as a reason for Trai Turner’s visit with the team. For starters, this could be an injury concern. DeCastro suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss some time in training camp and the start of the 2020 season.
After missing the first two games of the season. DeCastro played a full game against the Texans in Week three before playing just 22 snaps the following week and being inactive in Week 6 against the Browns. DeCastro would start every game from Week 7 on, but the results weren’t terrific, and he did little to separate himself from the rest of the group.
Perhaps DeCastro was playing through a lingering issue that never quite fully healed, and the Steelers are concerned about his health in 2021. This could be one potential reason why a high-caliber, Pro Bowl player like Trai Turner was brought in.
Another reason we could point to DeCastro is that the former two-time All-Pro guard could be contemplating retirement. After 9 seasons in the league and currently at the age of 31, perhaps he just feels like he doesn’t have enough left to offer or he’s thinking about starting the next chapter of his life. Of all the positions in the NFL, good offensive linemen typically play well into their 30s, but if DeCastro feels like he is declining, maybe he’s considering hanging up his cleats.
Of course, there’s always the idea that the Steelers are just looking for good players – regardless of position. Though Trai Turner has been primarily a right guard his entire career (the same position DeCastro has been for the Steelers), perhaps Mike Tomlin and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm would consider shuffling a few players around to get the best combination of offensive lineman on the field.
Maybe in his old, DeCastro could make a move inside to center. However, this seems unlikely considering the position he has played his whole career, and that the Steelers drafted Kendrick Green to eventually replace Maurkice Pouncey in the middle.
Again, I’m just spit-firing ideas as to why the Steelers would be so interested in bringing in a very good player like Trai Turner. Perhaps they were just covering all of their bases, or maybe there’s a bigger issue with David DeCastro that we aren’t aware of at this point in time. Either way, this is a situation we will continue to monitor closely.