With camp just starting, these five young Steelers have been impressing on the field as they hope to secure roles with the team.
Steeler’s training camp has opened to a lot of fanfare, and names are popping up all over the place in terms of what they are doing well and who is struggling. While it is still extremely early in the process, some names, in particular, have begun to stand out as potential camp studs. These are the five young Steelers that are having a great start to camp.
Steelers Kalen Ballage
Far from a household name, Kalen Ballage entered training camp as a well-established short yardage threat in the league and not much else. There were hopes that he could continue that role with the Steelers whenever Najee Harris needed a break, but all of that would require him beating out Benny Snell for a roster spot. While training camp is just beginning, Ballage has already set himself apart from the rest of the running backs.
He has been lauded as a weapon on offense and his blocking has been praised consistently since camp started. There is a real chance if he can keep this up, that Ballage leaves camp as the top backup at running back. This won’t lead to a gluttony of carries by any means, but it could give the Steelers a stable backup to rely on if Harris were to ever miss time. It’ll be interesting to see what he does once he is in a preseason game, but Ballage has started camp off on the right foot.
Steelers Rico Bussey
I’ll be one hundred percent honest when I say that I haven’t given Rico Bussey a lot of consideration since he signed with the team as an undrafted free agent. While he had some college success, I more gravitated toward fellow undrafted rookie Isaiah McKoy (who has had a good start to camp as well) given his big play-ability.
To my surprise though, Bussey has actually been the best receiver on the field that isn’t currently slated to be a roster lock. Specifically, on the second day of camp, Bussey was making plays all over the field as well as winning deep on numerous occasions. While he hasn’t seen a real defense yet, and most of these drills are designed with the offense in a good place to succeed, seeing him make so many sharp routes this early on is promising.
The real issue for him is that he will either have to play so well on offense that he becomes uncuttable (possible, but unlikely) or prove to have some sort of value to contribute on special teams. He doesn’t have bad size, but he isn’t the usual size you would want for a receiver on the coverage unit. That doesn’t take away from the strong start he has had to camp though. He could be a sleeper to make the roster or a safe practice squad candidate if he continues to impress.
Steelers Pat Freiermuth
Expectations have been mixed for Pat Freiermuth as he enters his rookie season. While many are high on his overall ability to be a complete tight end, he needs to develop his overall game to be a more dynamic threat. As well, he barely played last season for Penn State due to a nagging injury. That doesn’t bode well for a strong rookie season at a position that has a documented history of being tough to transfer to.
Freiermuth has shown up constantly though so far in camp. Again, drills haven’t gotten too specific yet and the preseason hasn’t been played, but Freiermuth is having as good of a start to camp as you could hope. Specifically, as a receiver, Freiermuth has displayed tough hands and a gritty resolve to come down with some difficult passes. The blocking hasn’t been highlighted as much, but ideally, a full camp of practice there can get him in the position to be an average to above-average blocker in year one.
Eric Ebron will likely still start the season as the starter, but Freiermuth could force more of a rotation than previously expected. If he can shore up his blocking as well, he could even see packages when he is the only tight end on the field. I don’t want to overlook historically how hard the tight-end transition is from college to the pros, but Freiermuth seems to be doing at least slightly better than most. He won’t be elite year one, but he could play well enough to see more snaps than initially anticipated.
Steelers Dwayne Haskins
A name that is still bringing up controversial feelings despite him being with the Steelers for multiple months, Dwayne Haskins is doing everything right in camp. There were seemingly two ways this would go; he could enter camp as he had in previous years (not ready to play and little understanding of the offense) and struggle immensely or he could come in well prepared and flash his natural talent.
As of now, he has been the latter of the scenarios, which is great for his odds of making the roster. He has been lining up as the third quarterback regularly despite Josh Dobbs also having some solid play and he has shown some arm talent. No, Haskins isn’t elite, nor is he playing well enough to jump from third-string to top backup, but he is playing better than I thought he would initially and seems to have a good grasp of the offense to this point.
It will be interesting to see what happens a week from now when he plays in the Hall of Fame game. Will he continue to rise to the occasion, or will he flounder under the pressure? Based on the early returns in camp, there is good reason to believe he will rise up and play well. Again, he doesn’t need to be perfect, but if he can continue to show the basic traits of solid quarterback play, Haskins should be able to make this roster.
Steelers Tre Norwood
Another rookie that I have mostly overlooked, Tre Norwood has had as strong of a start to camp as a seventh-round pick could hope for. He has been all over the defense (highlighting his versatility) and has shown some great ball skills. He picked off two passes in camp on Thursday and considering the Steelers’ secondaries focus on creating turnovers, that likely brought a lot of attention to the young rookie.
His ball skills aren’t his only notable trait though. He has been sticky in coverage and has been able to track well with the receivers he has been covering. While Cameron Sutton and James Pierre have also been extremely solid, neither of their good play is as surprising as Norwood. No one was sure what role Norwood would have with the team given his consistent moving around of the Oklahoma defense, but he seems to have flashed good defensive ability regardless.
While there is still a lot to prove, if I had to circle the spot Norwood could possibly contribute at, it would be Suttons’ old sixth defensive back spot in dime defense. The hybrid safety/slot cornerback feels like a good spot for a player of Norwood’s capability. Unfortunately for him, there are a plethora of other players competing for that role. That said, his strong start to camp has been noticed, and it has put him in a better place to try and earn a roster spot on this 2021 team.
While the Steelers have had quite a few positive standouts in training camp so far, these five young options have easily been the biggest surprises. Each came in with varying expectations, and all of them have exceeded them so far in the process. While there is still a lot of training camp to go, keep an eye on these players as each hopes to carve out a role on the Steelers’ active roster in 2021.