Phase III of the Pittsburgh Steelers offseason is complete, with OTAs and Minicamp in the books. The team will now break for the next six weeks before heading back to Latrobe for Training Camp on July 26th.
I was fortunate to be on location and broadcasting for SNR during all 9 OTA/Minicamp practices over the last three weeks, and there are two predictions that I have in the aftermath.
No, this won't be about who will start at quarterback, sorry to disappoint. While everyone else is talking QBs and wide receivers and who will replace Tuitt, I've got a pair of predictions that might not be as significant, but that I'm very confident in as we sit here in June.
The first is that the Kendrick Green experiment at center is over. That position is Mason Cole's, and Green will now have a chance to compete for the starting left guard position instead. I do believe Green, who started 15 games as a rookie last year, will be the odd man out on the interior of the offensive line, as Kevin Dotson will start at left guard and James Daniels will start at right guard. Daniels and Cole seemed very secure in their roles as right guard and center when they spoke to myself and Arthur Moats on SNR during OTAs.
The second prediction I have is that Connor Heyward is going to take Derek Watt's job. The Steelers will only have one set of siblings on the roster when the season begins, and it will be the Heywards, not the Watts this time around. Connor is younger, cheaper, and more versatile than Derek. And while Watt is a good special teams player, I don't believe that's enough to justify keeping him and his pricey $4.7 million cap hit around with what we have seen from the younger Heyward.
So there you have it, my two post-OTA and Minicamp predictions for the Steelers. Nothing sexy. Nothing earth shattering or franchise altering. But two predictions that I feel pretty dang confident about regardless. Let's see if I'm right come training camp!
Wes Uhler is the host of Steelers Blitz, Noon-2 on Steelers Nation Radio, and also hosts shows on 970 ESPN.You can follow him on Twitter @WesleyUhler.