PHOENIX -- The Steelers have gone into the past few years knowing exactly who their starting five offensive linemen would be -- a rarity in today's NFL.
But with Marcus Gilbert's trade to the Cardinals earlier this month for a sixth-round draft pick, they now have an opening at right tackle. And it will be an open competition, according to Mike Tomlin.
Matt Feiler made 10 starts in place of an injured Gilbert in 2018, with rookie Chuks Okorafor also starting there once. Tomlin also said fourth-year player Jerald Hawkins will get an opportunity at the job.
“It’s an open spot,” Tomlin said Monday at the NFL Meetings. “We’ll see. We were pleased with what Matt Feiler was able to do last year in a limited capacity. We were pleased with what Chuks was able to do in a smaller sample. They are two talented young guys who are ascending. You have to acknowledge that and give them an opportunity to establish roles. But you don’t want to exclude a guy like Hawk. Hawk has had some misfortune the last couple of years, but that’s a guy who has been a contributor and showed upside and is still a relatively young guy.”
Feiler is a former undrafted rookie free agent out of Bloomsburg, while Okorafor was a third-round draft pick in 2018 and Hawkins a fourth-round selection in 2016.
• Former first-round pick Artie Burns might also be on a short leash with the team this year after losing his starting position at cornerback to Coty Sensabaugh, who is a free agent.
The Steelers signed veteran Steven Nelson in free agency to be the starter opposite Joe Haden, leaving Burns, who has one year remaining on his rookie deal with a fifth-year option for 2020, perhaps on the outside looking in.
“Not a little bit disappointing, disappointing certainly,” Tomlin replied when I asked if Burns had been a little disappointing. “Having the ability to carry those talents into a stadium kind of defines all of us, or the inability to do so.”
The Steelers won’t do anything special to give Burns another opportunity at playing time, despite making him their first-round pick in 2016.
“It’s not about ‘giving him another chance.’ It’s about putting together the best group that we can put out there,” Tomlin said. “If that includes giving him another chance, certainly. But it’s not per se specifically about ‘giving him another chance.’ ”
• With Antonio Brown's departure, the Steelers are thin at wide receiver.
The Steelers have JuJu Smith-Schuster, who earned a Pro Bowl trip a year ago, to go with second-year receiver James Washington, free agent signing Donte Moncrief and slot receivers Eli Rogers and Ryan Switzer.
Tomlin said a lot is expected of Washington, the team's second-round draft pick a year ago. Washington struggled at times in his rookie season, finishing with 16 catches for 217 yards and one touchdown.
"He had some good, positive moments as we pushed forward to the end of the year," Tomlin said. "It’s reasonable to expect him to use that as a catalyst for a big jump. I expected a big jump. We expect it to be revealed to us, at least initially, in the level of conditioning as he starts the offseason. I thought that was a really good indicator of where James Conner was, for example, a year ago. I’ve been very transparent with James in terms of my expectations of him at different points. Level of conditioning is a checkpoint for him as we start the offseason. So I expect him to display that."
• New defensive secondary assistant coach Teryl Austin will be in charge of helping Tomlin with in-game challenges.
Tomlin said Austin, who has had several head coaching interviews in the past and comes to the Steelers after serving as defensive coordinator in Detroit and Cincinnati, has prepared himself to handle replays in the past.
Austin, a former Pitt star, will assist Tom Bradley with the team's secondary players. Early in Austin's career, he served as a graduate assistant for Bradley at Penn State.
"Watching those two guys interact is fun," Tomlin said.
