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 originally planned to be reporting day for players to camp. (Contract data courtesy spotrac.com)
#GoldenDores Male Player of the Year, no other than Ralph Webb! #AnchorDown
— Vanderbilt Athletics (@vucommodores) April 17, 2018
Ralph leaves Vanderbilt as the school’s all-time leading rusher with 4,173 yards in his four-year career, in which he started every game for the Commodores. pic.twitter.com/KQ5vPmR2Bp
RB RALPH WEBB
Experience: NFL training camps and practice squads the past two seasons
Contract status: $610,000 cap hit in 2020, under contractual control for at least four years
2020 outlook: Webb left Vanderbilt as that school’s all-time rushing leader and with the sixth-most rushing yards of any player in SEC history. He then had two touchdowns and two 2-point conversations in his first preseason game as a 2018 undrafted rookie for the New England Patriots. He spent time during that regular season on the practice squads of the Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Steelers. The Steelers had him on their offseason roster last year until he suffered an injury during training camp. Webb re-joined the Steelers’ practice squad for the stretch run of last season.
Bottom line: The Steelers like having Webb around, judging by how they keep bringing him back. He is talented, with 4,178 yards gained against the quality defenses of the SEC. The Steelers have taken a running back the middle rounds of each of the past four drafts, so it’s difficult to imagine Webb nosing his way onto the active roster. But his skills seem to make him an ideal scout-team player, especially if his intangibles are admired by the coaching staff, which by all accounts they are.
If you're rookie Ralph Webb and Brady winks at you like this, do you faint? pic.twitter.com/DdUq0bguaX
— Liam Martin (@LiamWBZ) August 31, 2018
OL STEFAN WISNIEWSKI
Experience: 10th season
Contract status: $1.24 million cap hit in 2020, signed through 2021
2020 outlook: Wisniewski might not even start for the Steelers this season. But no one in the locker room can say they’ve won more than him. A Central Catholic and Penn State alumnus, the interior lineman joins Ben Roethlisberger as the only players on the roster to have won a Super Bowl. Each has two, with Wisniewski’s coming over the past three seasons: starting for the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII and the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
Bottom line: Wisniewski was signed in conjunction with the retirement of longtime left guard Ramon Foster, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will replace Foster. Indeed, coach Mike Tomlin said he intended to start training camp with former starting right tackle Matt Feiler moving to left guard. That would leave Wisniewski in the former B.J. Finney role as the top backup at all of the interior line spots. But if neither Chuks Okorafor nor Zac Banner proves ready to take over at right tackle and the Steelers need to move Feiler back there, Wisniewski is quite the insurance policy to have. He’s 31, which would make him one of four starters in their 30s for the Steelers on the offensive line. Worst-case, he’s a quality backup.
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