Mailbag: Steelers Youth in the Trenches, Ambidextrous Quarterbacks and More
At the tail end of the offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers have answered a few questions.
Questions pertaining to Ben Roethlisberger's future in Pittsburgh (along with JuJu Smith-Schuster and others) have been answered, along with how they would go about replacing veterans in Bud Dupree, Maurkice Pouncey and Vance McDonald.
Those answers came in a variety of ways, with some unconventional methods shown along the process in both free agency and the NFL Draft.
However, as the Steelers shift their focus into the new season, a whole new group of questions now surround the team. Questions posed by not only themselves, but surrounding teams, pundits and fans such as yourself reading this now.
In this AllSteelers mailbag, all those questions (and more) are answered. Lets get started.
QUESTION: With a very competitive DL group already, what can I, a die hard Steelers fan, expect and not expect from the rookie Isaiahh Loudermilk?
Answer: This is a bit of a loaded question, but I'll break it down into two answers of long and short term.
Short term? You probably shouldn't expect very much. Loudermilk was regarded as a project player with great physical tools to build upon, and as you pointed out, the Steelers have somewhat solid depth at the defensive line. His playing time will likely come to contributing on special teams barring a phenomenal camp or the injury bug plaguing the team.
Long term? This is where it gets interesting. Draft people knew Loudermilk was a project, but the Steelers must have really liked him to move a future fourth round pick and jump into the fifth round to get him. One the thing the Steelers consistently hammered when talking about Loudermilk was his versatility, as he is able to play essentially anywhere along the defensive line. With some of their star defensive linemen in Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt aging, the Steelers may be all in on building Loudermilk into being one of their successors.
Long story short: Loudermilk is versatile and might only play out of need anywhere on the defensive line immediately, but the Steelers seem to like his trajectory for the future.
QUESTION: What are the ramifications of losing Maurkice Pouncey at Center?
Answer: This was a great question!
Pouncey anchored the Steelers' offensive line for eleven years, establishing himself as arguably the best at his position during his run. Leaving out his physical play for later, the Steelers immediately lost another voice of leadership in the locker room, especially on the offensive side of the ball where many young guns are starting to come in. Guys such as Roethlisberger and David DeCastro (not that they weren't leaders already) will now be more relied on, especially along the offensive line.
On the field, the Steelers' centerpiece to their big men upfront will be new for the first time in over a decade. On offense, the center is the glue that holds the offensive line together, acting as a vessel for communication and identifying certain looks for the rest of the line.
With all the above being stated, Pouncey's play on the field in 2020 wasn't precisely reminiscent of his prime. Pouncey, like any aging offensive linemen, looked like a shell of his former self at times due to his old age. The Steelers, athletically speaking, were looking for another version of Pouncey in the form of third-round pick Kendrick Green, and they believe they landed a solid player.
Will the quality of play drop at the center position in 2021? Should Green earn the starting job, having those responsibilities as you adjust to the highest level of professional football can be a bit overwhelming for some. Should the Steelers slot either B.J. Finney or J.C. Hassenauer as a starting center, the team retains a veteran presence on the offensive line yet sees a significant drop in play.
The Steelers offensive line is currently under a youth movement, and losing Pouncey was only a natural cause of that. The Steelers lost a leader for their group of offensive linemen at very worst, yet the team is hopeful a player such as Green can learn the ropes similar to how Pouncey once did in those same shoes.
QUESTION: Will we see an ambidextrous NFL quarterback in our lifetimes?
Answer: I legitimately spent too much time thinking on this question. Of course we've seen guys like Patrick Mahomes come into the league and every once in awhile see the off-hand completion, wowing everybody in the stands and breaking the internet simultaneously.
But a legitimate quarterback that could throw with either hand? That would be loads of fun for whatever offensive coordinator that had him, although there might be some ways to a defense could pick up on his tells through film. Things such as which way he decides to align his body, what arm he throws with on certain passing scenarios, how that correlates to his number one receiver, things of that nature.
Back to the lecture at hand (one point for a Snoop Dogg reference), will we see an ambidextrous quarterback in our lifetime? According to a quick google search, only about one percent of people are ambidextrous. Factor that with a solid 0.2% chance of high school football players making it to the NFL, and we unfortunately are looking at extremely long odds to see that happen, at least in our lifetime.
However, the NFL continues to surprise us with awesome stories every year. There are no numbers or percentage possibilities preventing anybody from entering the league if they're good enough. If you're an ambidextrous high school quarterback, go chase your dreams!
QUESTION: Who is the most underrated rookie in this Steelers' draft class?
Answer: Not that this is an "easy" answer, but as far as talent and draft value goes, you'll be hard pressed to find a better description of your question than defensive edge rusher Quincy Roche. Roche's presence on the edge at both Temple and Miami (FL) was balanced across the stat sheet, showing his dominance in the run game by accumulating 39.5 tackles for loss in his three years at Temple before transferring. Roche's senior campaign with Miami featured 14.5 tackles for loss to go along with 4.5 sacks, 45 total tackles and 5 plays involving fumbles (3 fumble recoveries, 2 forced fumbles)… All in ten games.
To get that kind of production in the sixth round? The Steelers were probably doing backflips in the war room. Roche didn't test out the gym athletically, and while being 6-3 and 245 lbs, he doesn't quite fit the mold of a "freak" on the defensive side of the football.
However, the building blocks are undeniably there to mold Roche into a solid edge defender at the next level, especially when learning behind the likes of T.J. Watt.
QUESTION: How much different will Matt Canada be from Randy Fichtner?
Answer: Well, for the sake of you and I, hopefully the difference is night and day.
I'm not here to personally slander Fichtner. We met at the 2020 Senior Bowl and he was nothing short of a great guy.
However, his work as an offensive coordinator left a lot to be desired. It truly felt as if the Steelers offense would just work backwards on most drives before being bailed out by a big play.
We saw a bit of Matt Canada's influence in the very early portions of the 2020 season: Lots of motion, spread your guys out and let players make plays in space. What Canada will do play-calling wise is still unknown, but the schemes and concepts that Canada has in his back pocket appear to be much better suited for a modern league.
The Steelers invested a bit of youth into their offensive line, got themselves a new shiny running back and will hopefully carry a receiving corps into the new year that won't lead the league in drops again. Canada appears to have a better starting point as the new offensive coordinator as opposed to last year.
What we do know from Canada is that the offense appears to be changing for the better. We're only past rookie minicamp, however, so we still don't have a snapshot of an actual offense in-game. Yet the idea of a fresh, forward-thinking offense is the promise Canada carries into the new season. Fichtner carried that same hope upon his arrival, but situational play-calling truly held him and his offense back.
Let's hope the same isn't true for Pittsburgh's new play-caller.
Donnie Druin is a Deputy Editor with AllSteelers. Follow Donnie on Twitter @DonnieDruin, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
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