Steelers/NFL category, Page 409

Mason Rudolph walked on eggshells with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year after Ben Roethlisberger second-guessed the team using a third-round draft pick on a quarterback. It wasn’t so much Roethlisberger felt threatened by the arrival of an eventual heir as it was he believed the Steelers should have addressed needs...

Vance McDonald was asked how the Steelers offense not only could withstand the offseason departures of former All-Pros Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell but also excel. “Because we have to,” the veteran tight end deadpanned, then paused. “That sounded really good if I just left it at that.” It was...

After a season in which nothing seemed to go right for Chris Boswell, he headed home and decided an overhaul to his kicking approach would be wrong. So he didn’t change a thing. “I’m going to stick to what I did going into my fourth year,” said Boswell, who is...

Mason Rudolph isn’t interested in talking about contracts, not after the Pittsburgh Steelers extended Ben Roethlisberger’s through the remainder of Rudolph’s rookie deal. That left no doubt who will be the Steelers’ starting quarterback, but Rudolph is looking forward to competing with Josh Dobbs for the backup job to Roethlisberger...

Mark Madden joins me for “Madden Madden” a day late after the Memorial Day holiday. We debate that failed trade of Phil Kessel to the Wild. Mark and I have differing views on that front. I’m not opposed to a deal involving Kessel. But I’m down on the structure of...

Mike Hilton still is assured of being the smallest player on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. But in 2019, he is at least a little bigger. Hilton looked noticeably bulked up during the opening three days of organized team activities last week. The slot cornerback said he added 7 or 8...

P.J. Locke took a calculated gamble in the frenzied hours as the NFL draft wound down late last month. While he wasn’t a top draft prospect by any means, as an experienced safety from a blueblood college program Locke had options as an undrafted free agent. But instead of pouncing...

Steven Nelson wasn’t the biggest catch on the NFL’s offseason free-agent market, and he’s hardly a household name among casual fans. But he does hold the distinction of earning the biggest contract the Pittsburgh Steelers have given to an outside unrestricted free agent in their history. While that certainly carries...

Coming off a 9-6-1 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be trying to return to the AFC playoffs for the fifth time in six years. One gambling site thinks the Steelers have a better chance of achieving the NFL’s best record in 2019 than they do the worst. According to BetOnline.ag,...

James Washington never felt entirely comfortable in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense — or with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — in his rookie season. A late-season pep talk by Roethlisberger calmed the young Steelers wide receiver’s nerves. Still, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Washington began to feel at ease...

Joey Porter ripped Ben Roethlisberger on the NFL Network, but the former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker coach was effusive in his praise of the addition of No. 1 draft pick Devin Bush. Porter appeared on the NFL Network and said the inside linebacker, who was selected No. 10 overall last...

The bashing of Ben Roethlisberger’s leadership skills continued from former Pittsburgh Steelers, with Joey Porter telling the NFL Network the quarterback is selfish with his power and waited too long to apologize to Antonio Brown. Porter, who was fired by the Steelers in January after four seasons as outside linebackers...

Antonio Brown might be gone from the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he’s not quite done causing a stir in the Pittsburgh area. The grass on Brown’s Pine property appears to have gone weeks without manicuring, and a neighbor called him out on Twitter on Thursday night in a tweet that since...

As a former second-round pick still on his rookie contract who has become a 100-catch centerpiece of an offense, the New Orleans Saints’ Michael Thomas has plenty in common with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster. As such, how likely contract-extension negotiations play out this summer between Thomas and the Saints...

He probably won’t ever sell as many Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys as Kordell Stewart did two decades ago. But Trevor Wood is the Steelers’ newest “Slash.” One of only two player on the team’s official 91-man offseason roster listed at two positions (center/guard B.J. Finney is the other), rookie undrafted free...

You should be mad. Why? Because “U mad, bro” is late this week. And waiting a few extra days seems to have allowed some of your venom to bubble quite a bit. Follow along as readers pop off about Chris Archer and coverage of the Steelers. A few readers didn’t...

If there’s one player more than anyone else on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster who understands what it’s like to enter a season as an underdog, it’s probably Joe Haden. Haden spent his first seven NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns – and they went 29-83 in that time. So with...

I’ll give this to the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary: They sure are a diplomatic bunch. I approached many of the defensive backs who were at organized team activities Thursday, looking for some reaction to the tweak of the new NFL pass-interference rules. In case you missed the news Wednesday, the league...

Six years after leaving Towson University for the NFL, Jordan Dangerfield returned to his alma mater to receive his degree. The Pittsburgh Steelers safety was absent from the voluntary organized team activity practice session Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “It means a lot,” Dangerfield told Steelers.com. “I’m just...

The memory of a subpar rookie season wasn’t the only thing that now won’t be weighing James Washington down in Year 2 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fifteen lost pounds also aren’t being carried in 2019, a slimmer and trimmer Washington said Thursday after an organized team activity session at the...

Jerald Hawkins is approaching an anniversary, but instead of celebrating, the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle views it as symbolic of how much he wants to play football. It was almost a year ago — May 30, 2018 — when Hawkins suffered a painful and season-ending injury when he tore his...

The Pittsburgh Steelers had near-perfect attendance for the first week of organized team activities. Almost every player was on hand to either participate in the first three days of voluntary workouts or receive treatment at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. One notable exception was All-Pro guard David DeCastro, who had a...

Greensburg’s Offutt Field will get new turf after the Greensburg Salem School District was awarded a $150,000 grant from the Pittsburgh Steelers through the NFL Foundation Grassroots Program. The century-old stadium was chosen by the Steelers, the NFL Foundation and and Local Initiatives Support Corporation as part of $3 million...