It's obvious to anyone who has spent even a minute at the Steelers OTA sessions that this team is all business. There's very little wasted time. There's a good pace. Guys are fully engaged.
There's just a seriousness about the whole thing.
The words leadership, accountability and competition are being thrown around quite a bit. I don't know that there has necessarily been a culture change, but, as Joe Haden told me on the first day of OTAs, there is always an expectation of being in the playoffs in Pittsburgh. And when you're not, it doesn't sit well.
And the whole leadership mantra, which is being preached across the board, isn't just coming from the older guys. Many of the younger guys are talking about stepping into more vocal roles.
"(I'm) just trying to build that leadership role and be a guy the younger guys can look up to," T.J. Watt said Wednesday. "Be a tone setter for the defense and the whole team. This time of year is really big. My rookie year I was really big on staying quiet and just working. My second year trying to prove myself, and I feel like I still haven’t fully proven myself. I feel like through what I have done around here, everyone sees the work I do and I can get in a leadership role and have a voice on this defense.”
There is a perception that has been lacking with the Steelers in recent years. There is a perception the locker room was in disarray because of it.
Another third-year player, James Conner, disagreed with that perception.
"Really we’re a tight-knit group," Conner said. "That locker room is incredible. With all the guys in there, the camaraderie, everybody loves each other, really. People might think it’s chaos, but it’s not like that at all."
This team is working hard to "change the culture." And it's not just paying lip service to it. It's almost like there's a sense of relief that there is no Le'Veon Bell situation hanging over its head. It's almost like guys are happy they no longer have to walk on egg shells around Antonio Brown, bowing to his ego.
Can that add up to a return trip to the postseason? Sure, why not?
After all, this is a team that has 11 players who have been voted to or played in the Pro Bowl. You only play 11 on the field at any one time.
Certainly, the Pro Bowl isn't the biggest determining factor for success. But it doesn't hurt to have that many guys on the roster who have been deemed pretty darn good players.
And those pretty good players are leaders, whether they like it or not. A lot of these guys seem to be embracing it.
CONNER STILL HUNGRY
Last year at this time, Conner was lean and hungry after a rookie season in which he barely touched the ball before landing on IR with a knee injury. He had no idea he was going to wind up being the team's starter.
Nobody had any idea Bell would not play in 2018. Nobody had any idea Conner would play well enough to be voted to the Pro Bowl.
Conner, however, is not taking anything for granted.
"I haven't earned anything," Conner said. "That's what training camp and everything is for."
Conner looks good in OTAs, as good as he looked last season when he showed up here down at least 10 pounds.
But can he stay healthy? That's the question.
He missed three games last season with an ankle injury after constantly being nicked up his rookie season with shoulder and then knee issues.
This is a big year for the former Pitt star. He's heading into the third season of his contract with the Steelers. If he gets banged up again this season, the Steelers will have to seriously question whether they want to sign him beyond his rookie contract, which expires after the 2020 season.
STRIKE? HAH!
The NFLPA is rattling its sabers about the possibility of a strike after the 2020 season when the CBA expires.
Talking with some players and former players off the record about such things, I just don't see it happening.
Why? More than every before, there's no middle class in the NFL.
You have your top 10 percent making very good money. You have maybe another 10 percent of the roster making middle-of-the-road money. And then there's everyone else.
And everyone else is either on their rookie contract or just working to earn a spot or stay in the league another year.
It doesn't behoove that other 80 percent of the guys -- or at least most of them -- to go on strike.
This isn't like the strikes of the 1980s, when the top-paid players were barely making $100,000 per year. This is a situation where some players are earning $10 million or more and others feel fortunate to get the $600 a week players make to attend OTAs.
There's little common ground there.