Training camp is a very important event for every NFL team. After a long offseason without football, teams have just a matter of weeks to get their depth charts sorted out as they prepare for another season. We know the Pittsburgh Steelers will have plenty of important roster decisions to make before it's all said and done.
In a billion-dollar business like the NFL, jobs are at stake, so the coaching staff and front office can't afford to get things wrong. Throughout training camp, we will get a good sense of which players are performing well and who is riding the struggle bus.
A lot is sure to change in the coming weeks, but based on the current roster construction, these three projected Pittsburgh Steelers starters could be benched with a bad training camp.
Levi Wallace will have Joey Porter Jr. on his heels
Wallace did enough in 2022 to hang onto his job for one more season, but it's only a matter of time before that changes. The veteran was aided by a quality stat line last season that included 4 interceptions and 13 passes defended, per Pro Football Reference.
The surface-level production doesn't match the tape, however, and Wallace really struggled at times. Advanced statistics show that he allowed 15.9 yards per completion and 8.4 yards per target last year while being responsible for 650 yards in his coverage.
Due to his poor top-end speed and athletic limitations, Wallace is essentially capped out as a player, and we know that Joey Porter Jr. is going to be on his heels. The expectation is that Wallace will be the starting cornerback opposite of Patrick Peterson in base packages this year, but that isn't guaranteed to be the case.
If Wallace struggles and Porter continues to impress, it's possible that Porter could be listed as the starter over the veteran from Day 1. Wallace needs to bring his 'A' game to each Steelers training camp practice.