Steelers 2-a-days: Long-tenured LB Vince Williams, XFL sack leader Cavon Walker

Editor’s note: Leading up to a unique Pittsburgh Steelers training campstaged 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 originally planned to be reporting day for players to camp. (Contract data courtesy spotrac.com)

Cavon Walker sacks Josh Johnson pic.twitter.com/Skr51L6xAg

— Arif Hasan, after curfew ⏰ (@ArifHasanNFL) February 29, 2020

DT CAVON WALKER

Experience: Training camps with the Bears (2018) and Chiefs (2019), played in XFL this spring

Contract status: $610,000 cap hit in 2020, under contractual control for at least 4 years

2020 outlook: One of an NFL-most nine former XFL players the Steelers signed after that league shut down this past spring, the 6-foot-2, 278-pound Walker comes with the distinction that he was the XFL’s sack leader with 4½ in the five weeks of the season that were played. That matched his 50-game college career total at Maryland. A former linebacker, Walker bulked up in college but is still undersized as an NFL defensive lineman.

Bottom line: The Steelers like to dabble in the spring pro leagues and the CFL in an attempt to find hidden gems. The odds for Walker to make the 55-man roster are incredibly steep, but perhaps he can show enough to make the practice squad. One of five Maryland players on the 90-man camp roster, Walker is competing against the likes of seventh-round pick Carlos Davis, undrafted rookie Josiah Coatney and practice-squad holdover Henry Mondeaux for a spot on practice squad.

“It never made a difference to me. I don’t care. I just want to win,” #Steelers Vince Williams said. “Not only me individually, though. I feel like that attitude will resonate with everybody on our team.” https://t.co/zuQz5E6Kdt

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) December 8, 2019

ILB VINCE WILLIAMS

Experience: 8th season

Contract status: $7.03 million cap hit in 2020, signed through 2021

2020 outlook: Only seven athletes in the city have been part of pro teams longer than Williams, who is a favorite among his teammates and the coaching staff for his leadership qualities and other intangibles. Though he’s been a full-time starter in just two of his seven seasons, he’s started at least two games in all but one of them. During the second season of his third contract, Williams in 2019 played 37% of the Steelers defensive snaps as part of a rotation at inside linebacker with Devin Bush and Mark Barron.

Bottom line: Barron is gone, but Bush is unquestionably the future of the Steelers’ inside linebacking corps and the projected star of the unit. Still, Williams figures to regain the more prominent role he had in 2018, when he played more than 80% of the snaps of the 14 games he was healthy for. The only question is if Williams’ role gets diminished in favor of using extra defensive backs, a schematic adjustment the Steelers are thought to have been heavily considering. But perhaps, especially in light of the pandemic that has limited practice time, expect the Steelers to continue to rely heavily on their savvy trusted veteran.

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