The history of any team is dotted with players who look like future Pro Bowl players in the spring and summer, only to fizzle out in the fall. Whether it be a matter of consistency, injuries or taking advantage of working against inferior competition only to wilt when the heat is turned on, they just can't seem to translate their talents into games that count.
Justin Hunter is intent on not being one of those players.
Back with the Steelers for a second season, Hunter wants to prove his strong spring and summer last year weren't a fluke. He wants to prove he can do more than he did once fall came around last year, when he caught just four passes for 23 yards and one touchdown.
“Just showing production,” Hunter said when asked what he wants to show. “I’m just building off of what I did last year, showing them that I can be more than just a flashy, deep ball receiver. Coach T (Mike Tomlin) told me he wanted me to be a complete receiver, doing some of the dirty stuff, because he knows I can do all the other stuff. So, just making me a whole receiver."
The opening for Hunter to do more is available. With Martavis Bryant having been traded to Oakland during the draft, the Steelers have a need for a "flashy, deep ball receiver," as Hunter put it.
James Washington was added in the second round of the draft to help replace Bryant's production, but the 6-foot-4, 201-pound Hunter is the closest thing the Steelers have in terms of size and speed to Bryant. In fact, he was signed last year for just that reason.
The Steelers remained uncertain Bryant would be reinstated by the NFL following a year-long suspension for violation of the substance abuse policy.
Hunter, a 2013 second-round draft pick out of Tennessee, has been a deep threat throughout his career, as his 16.2-yards-per-catch career average would suggest. But that consistency and ability to be a complete receiver has been lacking.
His athleticism is unquestioned. Hunter ran a 4.44-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2013 to go along with a 39 1/2-inch vertical leap. It helped him win a gold medal in the high jump 2010 USA Junior Championships.
That athleticism hasn't translated into a ton of success at the NFL level, just yet. His best season came in 2014, when he caught 28 passes for 498 yards and three touchdowns for the Titans. His deep-ball skills are unquestioned. Nineteen of his 82 career receptions have gone for 20 or more yards, including seven that have been for gains of 40 or more yards.
But he also has earned a tag every player dreads -- journeyman. After being released at the end of training camp by Tennessee in 2016, he signed with Miami and was active for one game before being released and then signing with Buffalo late in the season.
Then came the Steelers last season on a one-year deal. He signed a similar deal to return this year.
“In another year, I want to be on more than a one-year deal,” Hunter said. “That’s the biggest thing.”
He can make that happen by showing the production Tomlin said he wants to see. And that means doing it in more than just OTAs and training camp.
Hunter did just that last season, taking advantage of the NFL's decision to force Bryant to sit out the first two weeks of training camp before his reinstatement was completed. Hunter caught everything thrown his way.
That was before the emergence of JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster enters 2018 as the unquestioned No. 2 receiver behind Antonio Brown. And Hunter is getting opportunities to work into the mix as that third receiver, at least for now, ahead of Washington.
He'd like to keep it that way.
That means showing not just Tomlin that he's a more complete receiver, but quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, as well.
“I just try to stay on his good side as much as I can,” Hunter said of Roethlisberger. “If he needs me to do something, come and do another route, I’m there. He ain’t even got to ask twice.”