Steelers 2-a-days: What is Jaylen Samuels’ niche? Christian Scotland-Williamson’s last shot?

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)

Jaylen Samuels had a career-high 13 catches for 73 yards during #Steelers win against the #Colts. No Steelers running back had ever made more than 12 catches in a game. https://t.co/nhVyi4D3XK

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) November 4, 2019

RB JAYLEN SAMUELS

Experience: 3rd season

Contract status: $814,516 cap hit in 2020, signed through 2021

2020 outlook: Samuels has 935 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns among 195 touches in 28 games over two seasons since the Steelers took him in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. Though he also played tight end and wide receiver at N.C. State, Samuels essentially has been a running back in the NFL. The Steelers, though, seem reluctant to make him a featured back and instead prefer to find a receiving-centric role to use him in.

Bottom line: Outside of a 142-yard rushing effort against eventual Super Bowl champion New England in December 2018, Samuels has not had a game in which he amassed 100 yards from scrimmage. He has four games with at least seven catches, though, and five in which he had at least 10 rushing attempts. There even is some wildcat usage on his resume. But if James Conner is healthy, and rookie Anthony McFarland is what the Steelers hope he is, Samuels will be fighting it out with Benny Snell for scraps with regard to snaps for a running back. It’s possible all four carve out a role, but it’s more likely one of them gets left out.

British rugby player Christian Scotland-Williamson to join #Steelers as tight end https://t.co/wQFHJcExpk

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) May 1, 2018

TE CHRISTIAN SCOTLAND-WILLIAMSON

Experience: Spent past 2 seasons on Steelers practice squad

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

2020 outlook: Unlike each of the past two full years he spent with the organization, Scotland-Williamson earned one of 90 available offseason roster spots via his play during practice. A former rugby player from England, Scotland-Williamson had exempt spots on the camp and practice-squad rosters for two years as part of the NFL’s International Pathways program. Though he did not spend any time on the active roster and played sparingly in preseason games in 2018-19, he endeared himself to the organization with his work ethic and eagerness to improve.

Bottom line: The 6-foot-9, 275-pound Scotland-Williamson has enough raw athletic ability that if he had been born in the U.S. and taken up American football at an early age, he would have been a natural and a longtime NFL player. Instead, the adjustment from rugby to this sport that he always loved from afar has put the 27-year-old at a disadvantage. Still, the Steelers have been legitimately impressed by his improvement, and it shows via the reward of a 2020 roster spot. But Scotland-Williamson has a long road ahead of him if he hopes to stick once the regular season begins.

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