Latrobe, Here We Come
Photo by David Schellhaas.
We’ve been in football purgatory, also known as hell, for the better part of the last month or so. You know it’s rough out here when my Adam Schefter notifications are separated by days at any given time and the Pat McAfee Show is off the air for over two weeks. Seasonal depression really kicks my fuckin’ ass during the month of July, as is evident by my lack of content on this particular platform. But, that all comes to an end next week, as the Pittsburgh Steelers are set to report to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA for training camp on Wednesday.
As a fan, it’s hard not to be excited about this team at this particular stage of the offseason, although I can hype myself up about SOMETHING around this time every single year. Still, there aren’t a lot of teams out there that got unequivocally better, like the Steelers have over the last few months. Mind you, these are SIGNIFICANT roster changes and improvements to a team that went 10-7 and made the playoffs last season.
The Steelers’ 2023 schedule was a difficult one, and this upcoming season poses even greater difficulty. As great as the roster moves look on paper, it remains to be seen if those improvements are going to be reflected in their record in comparison to last year. Nonetheless, this is the time of the year when we can start to throw speculation out the window and judge this unit based on what our eyes tell us, and there is no shortage of storylines to watch out for.
Can Troy Fautanu show us enough to earn that starting tackle spot opposite of our second-year stud Broderick Jones?
Can Cory Trice Jr. regain some of the hype that was surrounding him during training camp last year?
We know Russell Wilson is in “pole position” for the QB1 spot. How long is his leash going to be before Justin Fields starts getting more reps with the 1s?
Roman Wilson? Van Jefferson? Calvin Austin? Brandin Aiyuk? Who the fuck is our WR2?
With the additions of DeShon Elliot and Patrick Queen, can Minkah go back to playing “Minkah ball”?
Is Donte Jackson the answer opposite of Joey Porter Jr.?
Needless to say, there’s plenty to talk about over the next several weeks, and I’m fuckin thrilled that I’ll have a front row seat for some of it, in person, in Latrobe. Buckle up, gang. Preseason is right around the corner. Here. We. Fuckin. Go.
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