Steelers 2-a-days: Carlos Davis another late-round DL pick, David DeCastro on path to Hall?

Editor’s note: Leading up to a unique Pittsburgh Steelers training camp staged at Heinz Field this year, the Tribune-Review will be running through the team’s 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2020 season. The breakdown will go through the roster, in mostly alphabetical order, two per day, between June 9 and July 23, a day that was originally planned to be reporting day for players to camp. (Contract data courtesy spotrac.com)

DL CARLOS DAVIS

Experience: Rookie

Contract status: Has yet to sign standard four-year rookie contract

2020 outlook: Davis ranked in the top 10 in 40-yard dash time and bench-press reps among more than three dozen defensive linemen at the NFL Combine. Davis is thought to be versatile enough to play nose tackle or an end spot for the Steelers, who have attempted to inject youth into what is an aging (but effective) defensive line.

Bottom line: Davis has a good role model ahead of him in 2019 late-round DL pick Isaiah Buggs, who made the 53-man roster as a rookie and was able to chip in during regular-season games. That would seem to be the ceiling for Davis as a rookie, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

The greatness #Steelers Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro are displaying — together — is something in some ways the NFL hasn’t seen in generations https://t.co/aImOgZjXxr

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) December 23, 2018

G DAVID DECASTRO

Experience: 9th season

Contract status: $13.647 million cap hit in 2020, one more season left on $50 million contract

2020 outlook: Another season, another Pro Bowl honor for DeCastro in 2019. It was his fifth consecutive designation. But it was a second consecutive season in which he was not named first- or second-team All Pro after he’d done that from 2015-17. DeCastro has been rated as the NFL’s 16th- and 19th-best guard by Pro Football Focus the past two seasons after he was No. 1 in 2017 and in the top seven the three years prior. Is he slipping? Or is that just a subjective rating bias dependent on the other factors around DeCastro on the Steelers offense?

Bottom line: Regardless, the absolute worst-case for the Steelers would seem to be slightly-above average play out of the right guard spot in 2020. But the season is a critical one in the career of DeCastro because he will be eligible for a contract extension next year at age 31. If the Steelers judge his level of play is falling, it’s doubtful they will give him one. But if DeCastro plays as well as ever in 2020, he almost certainly could be getting another $50 million-plus deal.

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