5 Steelers who are facing their last chance in training camp

Steelers B.J. Finney

One of the better stories in all of the Steelers camp, B.J. Finney gets his shot at redemption with the team that signed him as an undrafted rookie and developed him into a capable swing interior lineman. He left last season after earning a decent-sized contract but failed to make an impact due to poor conditioning. The team was quick to re-sign him this offseason given the need at center, and essentially this is his last shot to stick in the NFL.

The league will be watching to see what he does with his second chance this offseason. He enters camp in a center battle with the returning J.C. Hassenauer and rookie Kendrick Green, and frankly, that is a battle he should at least initially win. While Hassenauer has taken the majority of early reps so far, that is likely due to him being on the team last season. As for Green, by all accounts, he is the center of the future, but he is still making the transition to center from guard and was only a third-round rookie. Given Finney’s veteran status and experience with the team, he should be the favorite to start week one.

While the Steelers aren’t counting on Finney long-term, expectations in the short term should be a starter or, at worst, top interior offensive lineman. If he enters the season and plays very little like he did last year, it’s hard to imagine him getting much of a chance in the future. Worse yet, if he loses out to Hassenauer, his NFL career by over after that. Finney has a lot to prove this camp, and he will need to put his best foot forward if he wants his career to continue past 2021.