Pittsburgh’s Goin’ to the Super Bowl: Ask and Ye Shall Receive

The title seemed appropriate to celebrate the news of Antonio Brown’s massive extension. And no, he didn’t get a new hair style, although I suspect he will, just to mark the occasion—he got a nice fat contract.

I expect if you are a betting sort of person you can find a site someplace in which you can lay down money on the odds of him committing even more outrageous and extravagant hi-jinks, now that he has $19 million in guaranteed money to tide him over, besides all the rest of it. We can only hope his post-season heart to heart meeting with Mike Tomlin at a downtown steakhouse included some equally extravagant promises of future good behavior. But in the end I expect what they mainly care about is future performance.

Because of this news it seems appropriate to address the wideouts. So let’s get this out of the way first. We just looked at the defensive backs and pondered why it is that the Steelers, who have come up smelling like roses in drafting later-round wide receivers, have generally smelled like something else in their drafting of defensive backs. goffthesloth left a very interesting comment on that post, which I quote in its entirety:

Meet the New Steeler: WR Canaan Severin

Virginia Sports.com

There has been a fair bit of buzz about Canaan Severin since the Steelers signed him as a UDFA this spring. I am predicting he will be one of this year’s camp darlings. He’s got everything to achieve this status, as far as I can tell—he wasn’t drafted, he’s tall, he’s fast, and there are some seriously impressive catches on his 2015 highlight reel:

Steelers ‘X’ Factors for 2016: Offense

Matthew Emmons—USA Today Sports

by Ivan Cole

Now that the group of players who will be auditioning for roles in the 2016 edition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is largely set I thought I might amuse myself by making some educated guesses as to which ones may make the difference in a championship run.

But I wanted to move beyond the ‘Yeah, duh,’ kind of selections like Ben Roethlisberger or Antonio Brown. Too easy, too obvious and maybe not entirely accurate. Instead I wanted to take a shot at those players who may currently be flying under the radar. So my rules here are as follows:

• The players I select could be in the conversation as key factors in the team’s success, but are probably not at this time.
• They can be anyone from established superstars to non-drafted newcomers (admittedly a tougher call, but a good part of the fun).

This exercise is undertaken with the understanding that injuries and unanticipated personnel moves could radically alter the assumptions and landscape of the discussion, and that the conversation will evolve as the season progresses and more information is forthcoming.

Of course, all are invited to chime in with your ideas as well.