Entering this season, there are three former Undrafted Free Agents from the 2009 class on the roster which over the past three seasons have gradually worked their way up the depth chart, and even contributed largely to the team’s success over said span as well.  So, today I thought that it would be a good idea to briefly discuss the careers’ of Isaac Redman, Steve McLendon, and Ramon Foster, and explain why stepping up their games during the 2012 season will be of such great importance to furthering their careers’ and helping the team’s fortunes in general.

McLendon will be counted on greatly this season. Mandatory Credit: Jason Bridge-US PRESSWIRE

Steve McLendon

After working his way up the depth chart, veteran Chris Hoke’s retirement, some solid Coaching by John Mitchell, effective play when he has received snaps over the last couple of years, and a bit of weight gain (280 lbs. to 325 lbs.), Steve McLendon has an enormous opportunity to turn some heads this season and make an even bigger name for himself as a player.

Undrafted out of Troy in 2009, McLendon has held his own since being signed and stuck around with the club over the last few seasons as he has developed into a backup Nose Tackle and rotational player along Pittsburgh’s Defensive Line.  Now with “Big Snack” likely being sidelined to begin the year likely on the “PUP” List, and Rookie Alameda Ta’amu with zero pro experience and zero experience in Dick LeBeau’s Defense, McLendon will be counted on to shoulder a great deal of the load at Nose Tackle early in the 2012 season.  In fact, McLendon should be Pittsburgh’s best option at the position if “Snack” must sit due to his knee injury sustained late last season.

And even if “Snack” returns healthy later in the season, and the team believes that the massive Ta’amu is the future of the club at the 0-Technique, McLendon has an enormous opportunity to earn himself a full time roster spot, solidify himself as at least the #2 Nose Tackle (Chris Hoke’s old role) for years to come, or even perform well enough for another 3-4 team to consider signing him when he becomes a Free Agent down the road.  Defensive Line Coach Mitchell certainly believes that McLendon can do the job, and seems to believe that good things are in store for Steve this season.  I know that I will be rooting hard for McLendon to do well, and I hope that he can play well enough to make the transition from “Snack” in the coming seasons easier to bear, and in turn help push Ta’amu and his game to new heights by providing him with some solid competition.

Isaac Redman

Isaac Redman will finally get his chance to start in 2012. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Isaac Redman was the star of the 2009 Training Camp with his work during drills and his batter-ram attitude to push the pile and take on guys no matter what size they were.  While he was raw as a runner coming out of Bowie State that season and was an Undrafted Free Agent, Pittsburgh saw enough of his work in the preseason near the Goal Line to successfully keep him on their Practice Squad so they could develop him over the coming seasons.

Anyway, the move by Pittsburgh to sign, cut, assign to the Practice Squad, develop, and eventually play Redman over the last three seasons has paid huge dividends for the franchise.  Heck, without Redman, Pittsburgh might have had to play their 2010 Divisional Playoff Game in Baltimore, because it was Isaac’s toughness on the Touchdown catch and run which sealed the division for the Steelers on that Sunday Night Game in Baltimore that season.  Overall though, Redman has worked his way into the lineup gradually over the past two seasons where he has been on the roster.  Last season, Isaac set career highs last season in Attempts (110), Yards (479), and Rushing Touchdowns (3), and filled in admirably and effectively for Mendenhall in the Wild Card Game at Denver.

Like McLendon, injuries and inexperience of others at his position on the roster in 2012 will give Redman his biggest chance to break out and succeed.  With Mendenhall to begin the season on the “PUP” List, and none of the other Running Backs on the roster with a great deal (if any) professional experience, Redman will be called upon to shoulder the load in the running game this year.  Hopefully Redman can up his total Attempts to somewhere in the neighborhood of 200-250 this season as the team’s #1 option in the RB by Committee system.  As long as he stays healthy though, Redman should be able to do it, because he is a tough player who has kept on exceeding our expectations over the last three seasons.

Ramon Foster

Foster will be one of the Line's best backups in 2012. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

While he might not earn a starting job this season, Ramon Foster (6’6″ 325 lbs.) will definitely be an important piece of Pittsburgh’s Offensive Line and team as a whole in 2012.  Foster, along with ‘08 UDFA from Marshall, Doug Legursky, are versatile and solid backups for this Offensive Line to have.  So many injuries have afflicted this unit over the years, and both guys have responded and developed during said period.  To his credit, Foster not only made the roster in 2009, but he beat out that season’s 3rd Round pick Kraig Urbik who was supposed to take over at the Right Guard spot after Kendall Simmons left town due to injuries.

Even if Foster does not win the Right Guard job over Rookie David DeCastro, he will still enter the 2012 season as the undisputed top Guard backup on the roster.  With 26 starts under his belt, Foster has the experience to at least enter a game cold and off the bench, and know what is going on when he needs to play somewhere.  Plus, Willie Colon has not played an entire season of football since 2009, and has only played in one game since then.  If Pittsburgh’s new Left Guard is injured, Foster will be asked to fill in for whatever period is necessary, and do an adequate job in his absence.  Foster will be the team’s “Swing Guard,” on game-days and an important backup to have at a moment’s notice this season and beyond.

2012 will be an important season for Foster, even if he plays sparingly, because of the fact that he will be an Unrestricted Free Agent after the season ends.  Foster will be playing for a new contract in 2013, and might even be playing for it somewhere outside of Pittsburgh if another franchise offers him an opportunity to start if the Steelers want to keep him around as a backup (or cannot afford him salary-cap-wise).  Hopefully, Ramon will not be needed too much this season, because if that is the case it will mean that injuries have afflicted the Guard spot(s) yet again.  Nevertheless, this team has lacked quality depth along the Offensive Line for years, and if Foster is pressed into action, it is at least comforting to know that Offensive Line Coach Sean Kugler can turn to a guy which has started 26 games and developed into a solid option to turn to if his number is called.

Final Thoughts

I know that I will be watching closely to see how these three players perform over the coming months.  Redman will likely garner most of the headlines because he plays a skill position and will receive the most touches, and in turn the most notoriety.  Still, McLendon’s progress and continued development should be intriguing to watch, and we as fans should keep an eye on Foster’s development, how much he ends up playing in 2012, as well as what the team decides to do with him and Legursky (also a Unrestricted Free Agent following 2012) after the regular season ends.  I would like to see three UDFA’s in one class pan out for this club and become at the very least top backups/spot starters to important starters and contributors.  The opportunities are there for these guys to succeed in 2012 and into the future, and now the only question will be whether or not they can take advantage of them.

Stats Courtesy of: Pro Football Reference.com

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ILB Larry Foote begins his season as the Steelers "Man in the Middle"

While fans will have very limited access to the happenings this week on the South Side, the Steelers first Organized Team Activities (OTAs) of the 2012 season should bring out the newshounds in the traditional media who have been stumbling through hockey and baseball highlights for the past four months while reporting every miniscule Steelers tidbit as if the season were starting tomorrow.

The OTA season is upon us, and that means very little to us – the “media” or to you, the fan.  Other than giving the football-starved folks of western Pennsylvania some Steelers gossip to chew on between gulps of depressing Pirates game nights, very little happens during the OTA’s.  In a normal year for the Steelers, the team would simply gather a third of their roster – mainly newly signed rookies and free agents – and bring them into the fold to start learning playbooks and terminology.  This is not a “normal” year for the Steelers.  New offensive coordinator Todd Haley has arrived with an entirely new offense that has turned a simple coaching change into a certified Black and Gold emergency, taking fans back in time to the year 1999, when Head Coach Bill Cowher brought offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride into Steeler Nation and helped make the final two seasons at historic Three Rivers Stadium two of the worst campaigns the team ever enjoyed at the old concrete bowl.  Change is a curse word in Steeler Country, a term rarely heard uttered around the most consistent organization in football.  For a team that has had three head coaches since 1969, fans are used to just tuning out anything that happens before the players move into their dorm rooms at St. Vincent College in late summer.  Not this year, folks.  Change is upon us – at least in theory – and both fans and players alike have hit the panic button already in late May.  Since Phase One of the OTA sessions are basically conditioning practice, the only real news we will hear will be if someone shows up grossly overweight (my money is on RB Jon Dwyer) , but it is football so we will be thrilled to hear about it.

Nobody knows who will show up for these OTA sessions, as they are not exactly mandatory for the veterans.  We know that first and second round draft picks OG David DeCastro and OT Mike Adams won’t be there, as they are still putting the finishing touches on their final year of college.  S Troy Polamalu won’t be there because he trains on his own until camp starts.  WR Mike Wallace won’t be there because he is still pouting over his failure to land a “Larry Fitzgerald-sized” contract in his restricted free agency period.  There is a chance Wallace will milk this contract business until he is mandated to be in Latrobe, and his story will be a source of endless debate all year.

So what can fans look for once the news starts pumping out of the South Side Complex this week?  Here are a few items that are worth investigating this week.

1.  Larry Foote takes over the starting “Buck” ILB slot for the departed James Farrior – The last time the Steelers entered a season without #51 calling the defensive plays was 2001.  Foote has been with the team since 2002 – minus a one-year stint with his hometown Detroit Lions – and is going to be counted on as the leader in the middle of this Steelers defense.  The team will be without Farrior, DE Aaron Smith, and DL Chris Hoke – three of the respected, grizzled veterans of the past decade – and will need Foote to divide his time between making a ton of tackles against the run and trying to help develop young ILB Stevenson Sylvester and Sean Spence (who though unsigned, will most likely be in Pittsburgh this week).  For his part, Foote has always been a steady hand as a player.  As a starter between 2005-2008, Foote was a productive linebacker who was always better than he was given credit for.  As a back-up, he has been a consummate professional, understanding his role and just happy to be the Steeler.  It will be interesting to see how he reacts to becoming a major piece of the puzzle again, and taking over the former slot of his legendary buddy, James Farrior.  His battle to become a respected leader can begin this week.

CB Keenan Lewis will be competing for a starting CB spot this summer.

2.  The Cornerback position derby begins – Let’s just call it like it is – not many people are crying their eyes to sleep at night over the though of a Steelers secondary sans William Gay.  Gay took his ball and a nice contract and headed to Pittsburgh-West, leaving the Steelers with only Ike Taylor as a CB with any kind of game experience.  Since Ike can’t “swag” alone, he will need a new “swagging” partner in the defensive secondary.  That player will come from a group that includes Keenan Lewis, Cortez Allen, Curtis Brown, and newcomer Terrence Frederick.  The odds-on-favorite for the job is Keenan Lewis, who heads into his fourth season and at 6-foot tall and 208 lbs., has a natural build for the position.  Lewis will be pushed hard for the job by both Cortez Allen and Curtis Brown, second-year players that both turned heads last year.  Frederick comes in as one of the Steelers 7th rounders and has a real chance to make the roster for special teams duties.  No matter who wins the starting job, the Steelers finally seem to have some legit depth in talent at cornerback – a spot they have lacked solid backups for some time.  We should see all four players at OTAs this week, and it will be a good chance to see how their off-season conditioning either thrusts them into the limelight or turns them into the next Joe Burnett.

3.  The new Defensive Line takes shape – The first true team activities without Aaron Smith and Chris Hoke are upon us, and NT Casey Hampton is still nursing his ACL injury.  That means the Steelers will be looking at a defensive line potentially featuring DE Cameron Heyward, DE Ziggy Hood, and NT Alameda Ta’amu -not just for OTA action, but for the start of the season.  We won’t count out another stellar season coming from “The Diesel” Brett Keisel, but at 33-years old he should begin to be phased out this season.  It is a transitional period for the Steelers front three, and we should get a good look at how the young guns on the defensive line are looking this week.  While they won’t be wearing pads, just seeing the new players out there sweating and pushing around offensive linemen should be a sight that warms Steeler fans hearts.

DE Ziggy Hood will be starting for the Steelers in 2012

OK, I know…..this is just an OTA.  There won’t be much actual football taking place this week, but the excitement of seeing the Steelers doing anything is a sight for sore pigskin eyes in May.  The bitter taste of that loss in Denver is still in the mouths of most fans, and certainly the players are ready to move on from that debacle.  This is a minor step towards the new season, but hopefully it is enough to end the “sky is falling because Todd Haley threw out the Arians playbook” garbage we have been shoveled endlessly over the past month.  Let’s hope for some positivity out of the South Side this week, and start the push towards a very interesting and potentially Earth-shattering 2012 season.

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Can LaMarr Woodley become a defensive leader in 2012?

A quick inventory of players who will NOT be in Latrobe this summer for the 2012 edition of Camp Tomlin:

- The franchises all-time leading receiver, and spiritual leader of the offense for the past six years.

- A starting middle linebacker who had earned the Captain patch by leading the defense into battle for the past decade.

- Two long-time defensive linemen who were leaders in the locker room and respected unconditionally by every player that has come through Pittsburgh during their tenures.

That, my black and gold minded minions, is what we call in the business “Leadership”.

The Steelers off season isn’t even over yet, and already the team is heading into 2012 with a major gap in leadership – a tangible quality that no NFL team wins without.  While it doesn’t show up in stat lines or your fantasy football box score, leadership counts in a league where the roster is populated by 52 young men with a ton of money and very little life experience.  Without leadership, you can have all the talent in the world and achieve absolutely nothing (see Jets, New York 2011).  Players like Hines Ward, Aaron Smith, Chris Hoke, and James Farrior led on and off the field.  They ensured that players gave their all in every practice, treated each other with respect, followed the game plan, and most importantly they mentored your players who needed to be looked after.  There is a reason why James Farrior was the man to pump up the team before they headed out of that Heinz Field tunnel on Sunday – respect.  Farrior had earned that right by proving to the coaching staff and ownership that he was able to bring the defense group together into one cohesive unit.  Do you ever wonder why teams like the Washington Redskins always seem to have so much talent, yet they never win anything?  It’s because football is a team sport, and the strongest link in the chain is the most important one of all.  Teams like the Redskins have too many guys pulling chains in every which direction, never together.  The players the Steelers have lost this off season were some of the best leaders this franchise has ever seen, and to replace them will require numerous men to step up and take the reins as vocal and spiritual leaders of the most successful professional football franchise in NFL history.  It is not an easy task, and very few current players have the swagger and overall team respect to forge ahead as the new leaders of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On offense, its very simple.  Ben Roethlisberger is a future Hall of Fame quarterback who has been to the brink of losing it all and rebounded to reclaim the love and respect of his peers.  With Hines Ward gone, he is the unquestioned leader of the offense, and frankly, the entire team.  Roethlisberger is now two years removed form his social issues, and has continued to develop into the type of man the Rooney family wants representing their team.  “Big Ben” has done everything short of play with a broken neck, he is a tireless competitor who will never allow injuries to keep him out of a game, even though he spends most weeks getting thrown around like a sack of potatoes.  Ben Roethlisberger is now the “face” of the Steelers, a position he has earned through hard work and persistence.  Coach Tomlin knows that he has a leader in his quarterback, and he will be calling on him to keep the troops in line this season.

On defense, things are a bit trickier.  Most fans would say that Troy Polamalu is a fine example of a leader, but despite the fact that he is the best player on the field – when he is on the field – Polamalu is a man of few words.  Let’s just say that the chances of seeing #43 leading the pre-game rally in the tunnel is pretty slim.  Polamalu leads by example on the field, and off the field.  He is a deeply religious man who values his family over anything the game of football could ever bring him, which are the reasons that he is beloved by so many.  However, as a leader in the locker room – the soft-spoken safety may have trouble getting his point across.  Better we leave Troy to the issue at hand- scaring the snot out of opposing quarterbacks and slot receivers going over the middle.

Ike Taylor would be a candidate based on seniority.  Ike has been with the Steelers since 2003, and has been a starter since 2005.  He re-signed with the team last year when he probably could have taken a more lucrative deal elsewhere, and he has earned a reputation as one of the best cover corners in the league by people who obviously do not watch enough Steelers football.  Ike Taylor is not a leader, he is a great player who will follow a great leader and probably be better for it.  Lawrence Timmons is a beast, easily the best athlete on the defense and a scary human being to see running at you full speed.  He is also a laid-back type of locker room guy, with no patience for the “Ra-Ra” energy a defensive leader needs to have (think Ray Lewis – unfortunately).  Casey Hampton has had opportunities to step up as a leader before, and never fully embraced it then.  I would assume he is happy with his current role of speaking softly and eating opposing running backs for mid-game light snacks.  James Harrison is a player that is respected by all, but he is a tad bit on the not-so shall we say…..sane side.  There is also the matter of his ongoing battle with the NFL over decapitating opposing players to contend with.  Better to leave Harrison alone.  Ryan Clark is a leader, outspoken and brash, with a tendency to hit first, think later (here’s looking at you Willis McGahee).  Clark has become a vocal leader for the team and could very well be the guy who replaces James Farrior as the leader of the defense.  Additionally, Clark plays free safety – a position that is integral to most of the plays in the Dick LeBeau bag of tricks.  Could Ryan Clark emerge as the next defensive captain of the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Last but not least, I give you my choice.  The Michigan Monster, the man with the stomp, the Steelers most intimidating defensive player.  LaMarr Woodley has embraced Steeler Nation, he has been one of the most consistent forces on the Steelers defense, and he has in his possession a Super Bowl ring.  All prerequisites for anyone who wants to be the Steelers defensive captain.  Woodley is entering his sixth season with the team, and is signed through 2017.  By the time his career comes to an end, he should be a lifetime Steeler, just like Ward, Smith, and Hoke.   Woodley is an outside linebacker, a position that is the calling-card for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  He is a shining example of a player who works hard in the community as well as on the field, and is a good role model for younger players.  The time is right for LaMarr Woodley to become the new leader of the Steelers defense.

From Bradshaw t0 Franco to Swann to Lambert to Hoge to Ilkin to Gildon to Porter to Ward to Smith to Farrior and now to Woodley.  The tradition of leadership in the Pittsburgh Steelers organization continues in 2012.  We may see some younger players – Antonio Brown, Keenan Lewis, Maurkice Pouncey – emerge as leaders in the future, but for 2012 this Steelers team will rely on the leadership of Ben Roethlisberger and LaMarr Woodley to lead them to the promise land.  With much more off season to go before the trip to Latrobe, anything can happen.  However, the Steelers should feel pretty good about having these players wearing the C patch – at least theoretically – this season.

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