The Pittsburgh Steelers will open their 2022 training camp very soon. Here are the three biggest things all fans should be hoping to see this year.
Nothing gets fans pumped up for a new NFL season quite like training camp. After a long drought almost completely void of football news from May to July, Steelers training camp is finally about to begin, and there is going to be plenty to keep an eye on this summer.
Pittsburgh had a lot of roster turnover this summer — none bigger than replacing their former Super Bowl-winning quarterback with a pair of much younger players in Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett. There are going to be plenty of storylines surrounding the new faces at Saint Vincent College during practice, but here are the three biggest things fans should be rooting for during Steelers training camp:
George Pickens looking like a future WR1
This is a tall task for a 21-year-old rookie who combined to play just 12 games since his freshman season at Georgia. However, George Pickens is a talented enough football player to make a major splash before he even sets foot on the field for his first regular-season game.
Now that the Steelers have drafted the player they believe will be their quarterback of the future, it’s critical to surround him with weapons to help him succeed. If you’re looking for evidence of this, just look at how important Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins were to Joe Burrow’s development on the Bengals last season.
Pickens has a big frame and is a solid athlete, but his best trait is something that can’t be measured: his natural football ability. If the young receiver dominates from the beginning of camp, it should give us confidence that he will be a future number one wide receiver for the Steelers and a go-to option for Pickett for a long time.