Chris Adamski stories, Page 64
‘Best time of your life’: Pitt football opens spring practice
Among the handful of opening days on the annual calendar for major college football, Tuesday’s is far from the most anticipated. It isn’t as important as the start of preseason camp or, certainly, the first gameday of a season. But this unseasonably cold Tuesday morning at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex’s...
Steelers agree to contract with free-agent guard Nate Herbig, bring back Damontae Kazee
For the second consecutive free-agent period, the Pittsburgh Steelers made it a priority to beef up the interior of their offensive line. Then, they retained a versatile member of their secondary. Twelve months after signing veterans who became their starting right guard and center, the Steelers agreed to terms with...
Steelers release veteran CB William Jackson III
Seven years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers coveted William Jackson III. But when they finally acquired him, he never even appeared in a game for them. The Steelers released Jackson on Friday, four months after trading for the veteran cornerback. In the end, the Steelers owe no compensation to the Washington...
Super Steelers-era director of player personnel Dick Haley dies at 85
Dick Haley, a Western Pennsylvania native and Pitt graduate who helped assemble the Steelers’ dynasty of the 1970s, has died. He was 85. “We lost an amazing football mind and a better man with the passing of Dick Haley,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “He was...
Steelers, as expected, left out of NFL awarding of compensatory draft picks
The Pittsburgh Steelers learned Thursday, as expected, they won’t be making any extra picks in next month’s draft. The NFL announced the addition of 37 draft choices for the April 27-29 event in Kansas City, and the Steelers weren’t one of the 16 teams that made the cut. Thirty of...
Steelers rank 22nd among NFL teams in NFLPA player survey ‘report cards’
The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t necessarily making the grade when it comes to amenities for their players, according to results from a recent survey by the NFL’s players’ union. Approximately 1,300 players responded to anonymous questioning from the NFLPA in an effort to evaluate teams in eight areas. Relative to the...
Omar Khan indicates Steelers eager to extend contracts of Alex Highsmith, Cameron Sutton
While they lack the accolades of perennial All-Pros T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cameron Heyward, two of the more solid and reliable starters on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense have contract situations that leave their future with the team in question. General manager Omar Khan gave strong indications Tuesday that the...
Steelers GM Omar Khan: ‘I want Mitch (Trubisky) around’ as backup QB
When the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season begins, don’t expect the top two spots on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback depth chart to be any different than they were when the 2022 season ended. Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Indianapolis, general manager Omar Khan enthusiastically endorsed keeping Mitch Trubisky around to serve...
Steelers re-sign reserve OLB, core special teamer Jamir Jones to 1-year deal
Jamir Jones, one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ core special-teams players, re-signed with the team Monday via a one-year deal. An outside linebacker by trade, Jones was part of the Steelers’ punt and kickoff coverage and return teams in 2022. He appeared in all 17 games, and only four players played...
Steelers OLB Alex Highsmith in line for payday after huge year
He had more sacks this past season than all but only three men have ever recorded for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This particular outside linebacker’s sack total in 2022 was more than the likes of Joey Porter or Greg Lloyd (officially), or Joe Greene or L.C. Greenwood (unofficially) ever tallied in...
Rookie Connor Heyward earned prominent role in Steelers offense that could expand in ’23Video
The first month of Connor Heyward’s rookie season went as it often does for sixth-round draft picks: He was an afterthought in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense. The final Steelers’ possession of Heyward’s rookie season, though, illustrated just how far he had come. A leaping, spinning, high-pointed catch over the middle...
Chuks Okorafor has become a reliable presence on Steelers offensive line, but will he be retained?
What player has been on the field most for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the past three years? Not T.J. Watt, not Cameron Heyward, not Minkah Fitzpatrick nor Diontae Johnson. The man who (literally) has played the most for the Steelers through the 2020-22 seasons is right tackle Chuks Okorafor. Okorafor...
Long way to go? Oddsmakers peg Steelers twice as unlikely to win Super Bowl as Jets, Jaguars
Super Bowl LVIII is 363 days away. If the people who set the betting lines have anything to say anything about it, don’t bet on the Pittsburgh Steelers playing in it. Then again, a wager on the Steelers would pay off quite handsomely if they do lift the Lombardi Trophy...
Eagles’ Miles Sanders, Chiefs’ Skyy Moore, Justin Watson among Western Pa. connections to Super BowlVideo
When Miles Sanders was growing up, his family never missed watching the Super Bowl on television. These days, his mother never misses watching Sanders in person. On Sunday night, almost unbelievably, the two collide for Marlene Sanders. “This will be my first Super Bowl,” she said, “and I get to...
Former Steelers Javon Hargrave, JuJu Smith-Schuster on big stage at Super Bowl
A few weeks before he can strut into free agency, Javon Hargrave can wobble onto the field at the Super Bowl. Hargrave was affectionately dubbed “J Wobble” by teammates upon being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016. But five days after turning 30, Hargrave could cap his third season...
Maulers’ 10-game season announced, 1st ‘home’ game in Canton
The 2023 Pittsburgh Maulers’ season will begin with a night game Sunday, April 16. The game will technically be a road game against a team named “New Orleans” played in Birmingham, Ala. The following week, Pittsburgh’s USFL team will play its “home” opener in Canton, Ohio, against a team dubbed...
Miles Boykin fit in during 1st season with Steelers, but will he be back for 2nd?
For five seasons of the most recently completed decade, one of Mike Tomlin’s favorite players in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room was a wide receiver who had all the physical tools but was never able to put it all together as an offensive threat in the NFL. That player, Darrius...
2022 Steelers used myriad, varied defensive schemes based on opponent
For their road game against the division-rival Cincinnati Bengals this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers deployed seven defensive backs who played at least 33 snaps. Throughout their road game against another AFC North opponent, the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers played seven defensive linemen. In 2022, perhaps as much as ever and...
Former 4th-round pick Renell Wren jockeys to be part of 2023 Steelers defensive line
Not bad work if you can get it: a reported $207,000 for about 6 seconds on the clock. But that wasn’t necessarily what Renell Wren wanted out of the 2022 NFL season. A defensive tackle who entered the league as a fourth-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019, Wren...
Steelers TE Zach Gentry set to hit free agency after gradually becoming bigger part of offense
There might not be any greater “bro-mance” in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room than Zach Gentry and Pat Freiermuth. So when the Steelers posted a sideline interaction of the two tight ends from a December game that involved each saying to the other, “I love you,” it was fitting. But...
Free agent Robert Spillane loves playing for Steelers, wants chance to play every down
Robert Spillane uses a creative metaphor to describe the feeling a professional football player endures at the sudden end of a season. “I’ve tried to describe this to lots of people,” Spillane said the day after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent season ended, “and the best way I can is to...
Steelers’ WR3 over the 2nd half the season, Steven Sims makes case to keep role in ‘23
The longest passing play of what was arguably the biggest win of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season wasn’t thrown to whom you might expect. The clutch, skillful 28-yard catch over the middle at the two-minute warning of the Jan. 1 primetime victory at the rival Baltimore Ravens wasn’t by Diontae Johnson,...
Steelers’ Cameron Heyward added to Pro Bowl roster
Cameron Heyward is about to get a chance to show off his dodgeball skills. Heyward, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ longtime co-captain, was named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster Tuesday. Heyward initially was listed as an alternate at defensive tackle, and he was summoned when Chris Jones became unavailable because his...
Via big plays, eye-popping catches, George Pickens delivered during rookie season for Steelers
By the nature of how quickly George Pickens showed he could be a playmaker in the NFL, it was fitting that he produced the Pittsburgh Steelers’ longest touchdown of the season in what was the final game as a rookie. After that win, during which he had a 31-yard score...
Safety Damontae Kazee was solid addition to Steelers, but will he return?Video
As Damontae Kazee stood in front of his locker at Acrisure Stadium not long after his sixth NFL season ended, his young son sat on a folding chair behind him. Like most of that toddler’s generation, the youngster was being entertained by Kazee’s phone. And when it rang while the...
