The 2018 Steelers will be defined, for better or worse, by their older players. Ben Roethlisberger's 36, Antonio Brown's 30, the offensive line's been together for half a decade, and Le'Veon Bell, while not exactly old at 26, is getting to be seriously old news. Same goes for the defense: Cam Heyward and Joe Haden, the best on that side of the ball, are both 29.
As those guys go, the season will go.
At the same time ... man, wouldn't it be wonderful if this 53-man roster, with as much young talent as any in recent memory, pushed that process along?
Nothing's been a more pleasant surprise for me through this offseason -- from OTAs to Latrobe to preseason -- than seeing so many recent draft picks ... not just make the team, but make an impact. On and off the field. They're making plays, they're showing poise and, while openly respectful of their elders, they're anything but back-seat passengers.
Terrell Edmunds is 21. He's a relative child in the NFL world, but all he's done from the day he was selected as the Steelers' first-round pick is impress all concerned in just about every capacity. What's more, he's carried himself so smoothly that, in his own way, he's become something of a leader for the many young talents in the secondary.
I asked him about that group:
Get all that?
Yeah, that's who he is. That's who they are, and the list runs a whole lot longer than Edmunds, even if narrowing it down just to players expected to make significant contributions: JuJu Smith-Schuster is 21, James Washington 22, offering vital fresh legs flanking AB. James Conner, everyone's hero all over again but for a different reason, is 23. Chukes Okorafor, a principal backup on the offensive line, is 21. Cam Sutton, suddenly a hands-on-the-ball type in the secondary, is 23, joining Artie Burns, 23, and Sean Davis and Mike Hilton, both 24. T.J. Watt's 23.
It's funny that, for all the fair discussion about the Steelers' window closing, they've actually got their youngest roster in the past six years, according to a study of all 32 NFL teams by PhillyVoice.com. The current average age is 25.9 years old, which is the 16th-youngest in the league. It's down from 26.1 years old last season, and it's well down from the previous four years: 26.3 in 2016, 26.6 in 2015, 26.3 in 2014, and 26.5 in 2013.
The only players 30 or older are Ben, AB, Ramon Foster, Marcus Gilbert, Tyson Alualu and Darrius Heyward-Bey.
I don't know what it'll mean, how it'll play out. I just know that, for right now, that's about as prominent a positive as the Steelers could possibly have hoped to cull from this offseason. Because, on one hand, they can't stay reliant on the same handful of players forever and, on the other, they could really, really use an authoritative, stand-on-its-own, supporting cast right now. The latter has already been palpable, trust me. I haven't see this effect with this team in quite some time.
• On that note, the Bengals and Browns are the NFL's two youngest teams, at 25.2 and 25.3 years old, so never mind.
• Want to talk Le'Veon?
Not me, to be honest. I believe he'll show up Wednesday for the first real practice of any game week, and I believe that when he does, this will all blow over almost as quickly as it did a year ago. Some issues feel far bigger in the moment than they are in reality, and this is one of those.
I will add this, though: Kevin Colbert's statement yesterday in which he expressed 'disappointment' that Bell hadn't shown up, that struck a chord. In particular, the line about how the Steelers "will continue to focus on preparing the players on our roster for our regular season opening on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.”
This might be reading way too much into it, but there really was no need for a statement of any kind from the GM, much less one that referenced the coming week. Made me wonder if maybe Bell wasn't ruled out for it already by not showing Monday.
Guess we'll find out.
• Josh Dobbs was the obvious choice to be Roethlisberger's gameday backup, as his knowledge and experience would far exceed that of Mason Rudolph at this stage. He'll also be better positioned to practice first-team snaps in alternating with Ben, which is the backup's primary responsibility in preparing for any game. (Though he also might be an asset to the coaching staff in occasionally running the scout team to prepare for a more mobile quarterback, such as, oh, Tyrod Taylor this very week.)
Mike Tomlin's press conference today will present the first chance to ask him about that -- and a lot more -- but the far more compelling comments are sure to come from Ben himself. He's seldom resisted a chance to make his displeasure known for a given situation, and it's impossible to imagine he won't do so regarding Landry Jones, a longtime friend for whom he'd openly lobbied all through camp.
Again, guess we'll find out, but my money's on the public pout on his weekly radio program today, followed by blaming reporters tomorrow for blowing it out of proportion.
• OK, one last thing on Bell: If he thinks he carries the same value to a franchise as Aaron Donald and/or Khalil Mack, both of whom just signed massive six-year contracts -- Donald for $135 million with the Rams, Mack for $141 million with the Bears -- then he's uncovering a new layer of delusion. And that, from my experience, is a powerful sign of an athlete having garbage pumped into his ears around the clock by an agent more interested in himself than his client.
• Just to remind here, I like Bell. Always have. He's mostly just an overgrown child, but otherwise harmless.
• Another reminder, almost related: The Browns will still stink.
Hue Jackson told reporters in Cleveland that he and his coaching staff -- presumably the portion that hasn't tried too hard to embarrass him on 'Hard Knocks' -- are still unsettled about how their offensive line will look Sunday.
You know, six days from kickoff.
Because cohesion really isn't all that critical for an O-line.
“We’re going to figure it out and put the best five guys out there,” Jackson would say. “I have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to be. I have to keep saying it: Keep having the guys work every day together and go from there.”
Right. Joel Bitonio, a veteran, might play left tackle, filling Joe Thomas' Hall of Fame shoes, or left guard. Depending on which, he'll have a rookie by his side: Austin Corbett, the second-round draft pick, or Desmond Harrison, an undrafted free agent. Then again, they might also use journeyman Greg Robinson at left tackle, even though he spent the preseason as the backup right tackle.
Hope Taylor's ponied up for insurance.
• If it's still OK to talk baseball and, furthermore, it's still OK to say something positive about the Pirates, hey, let's hear it for Trevor Williams:
Is it sustainable?
It can make for a riveting debate, but I'm that much more appreciative of the reality at the moment. And, of course, historically:
Pretty decent company there, huh?
• On the subject of second-half surges, Adam Frazier's 4-for-4-with-yet-another-home-run afternoon moved him into second place on the Pirates in batting average (.288), on-base percentage (.359) and OPS (.827). Only Corey Dickerson has a better average, only Francisco Cervelli has a better OBP, and only Gregory Polanco has a better OPS.
I took a fair amount of heat for this March 3 column from Sarasota, Fla., suggesting there was no way Frazier wouldn't emerge as an everyday player in 2018. In that same piece, I cringed at how Colin Moran was stroking nothing but singles in Grapefruit ball and worried that his power numbers in the minors were inflated in the hitting-friendly Pacific Coast League.
They don't all age well. That one has.
• A hockey thought to close this one: I love Nate Schmidt's 20-game suspension for violating the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, if only because it's well past time people stop deluding themselves into thinking that cheating only occurs in a select few sports, like baseball, track, swimming, weightlifting and cycling.
The Olympics long ago got their act together and aligned with the World Anti-Doping Agency, and Major League Baseball, while not going that far, went a heck of a lot further than the NFL or NHL. As a result, because perception invariably rules, the endless wave of suspensions get people to thinking that those sports have the shadiest characters.
It's exactly the opposite.
The only thing of which the Olympics and MLB are guilty in this instance is of actually policing their sports.
Welcome, Gary Bettman, to the 21st century.