Martavis Bryant says he's gained 20 pounds, up to 225 with 4 percent body fat

[polamalubeast]

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2015/07/steelers-wr-martavis-bryant-opens-camp-weighing-225-pounds/

- - - Updated - - -

I predict than Bryant will be special this year

[GBMelBlount]

He should be a beast this year.

[polamalubeast]

Charles Robinson ‏@CharlesRobinson 2h2 hours ago
Martavis Bryant is going to be a star this year for the #Steelers. He looks amazing. Absolutely has made big strides this offseason. #NFL


https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson

[polamalubeast]

Steelers OC Todd Haley: Martavis Bryant "much further ahead" in second training camp

As Martavis Bryant heads into his sophomore season with the Steelers, his offensive coordinator notices a big change in the wide receiver as they prepare for the 2015 season.

Life isn't always easy in the NFL. Just ask any player who took years to develop their craft after entering the league. This process happens faster for some than others, but luckily for the Pittsburgh Steelers it seems they have a quick learner in WR Martavis Bryant.

Some might have been quick to expect Bryant to simply pick up where he left off in 2014 as if he would simply be able to walk on the field and average over 20 yards a catch again, but the fact of the situation is he still has a lot to learn. Bryant himself stated the route trees he was given last year were routes he was most comfortable with. Wide receiver screens, red-zone fade routes and of course the deep fly pattern. He ran those routes to near perfection, but simply watch Antonio Brown work and you can see how far he has yet to go in terms of precision and route running.

Todd Haley spoke with Dejan Kovacevic of DKonPittsburghSports.com about Bryant's progression in his second year, and the news is all good.



read more


http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2015-pittsburgh-steelers-training-camp-news-times-schedule-tickets-updates/2015/7/27/9045647/steelers-oc-todd-haley-martavis-bryant-much-further-ahead-in-second

[86WARD]

Just don't go all David Boston on us...

[polamalubeast]

Martavis Bryant destined for stardom in 2015


If the Pittsburgh Steelers plan to achieve their goal of scoring 30 points per game this season, Martavis Bryant will be asked to play a starring role.

The second-year wideout is already earning rave reviews at camp, with Bryant telling NFL Media's Albert Breer on Monday that he added nearly 20 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-4 frame. Now at 225 -- he played closer to 211 pounds last season -- the bulked-up fourth-rounder is down to four percent body fat and showing the signs of a more balanced playmaker.

"We threw him a lot of deep passes (last season), that was kind of his go-to catch," Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said Monday, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Now we can throw it to all areas."

Bryant's on-field work at Monday's practice led Yahoo's Charles Robinson to note that "he looks amazing" and "absolutely has made big strides this offseason."

Inactive over the first six games of his rookie campaign, Bryant accounted for two-plus catches in eight of his final 11 appearances down the stretch. His four-grab, 143-yard outburst against the Jets in Week 10 and a four-reception, 109-yard outing against the Bengals in Week 14 point to a juicy ceiling. Bryant also topped the NFL with 21.1 yards per grab and showed enticing deep-threat ability -- hauling in three of Big Ben's five longest completions in 2014.

As Kevin Patra noted in Bryant's Making the Leap post, the wideout's 4.42 speed helped him scorch defenses more attuned to the movements of All-Pro pass-catcher Antonio Brown and star running Le'Veon Bell. While operating as a genuine red-zone threat, Bryant also used his wheels to slaughter secondaries with plays like the 94-yard burner below:


read more


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000504198/article/martavis-bryant-destined-for-stardom-in-2015

[TeeTee]

Just don't go all David Boston on us...
http://www.mysticgames.com/famouspeople/pictures/DavidBoston.jpg

[polamalubeast]

Steelers WR Martavis Bryant Makes Nasty Catch Despite Holding in Training Camp

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2535754-steelers-wr-martavis-bryant-makes-nasty-catch-despite-holding-in-training-camp


Amazing catch!!!

[teegre]

AB, Bryant, Wheaton, Coates, Miller.

No other team (NO other team) can go five-wide like that.

[polamalubeast]

AB, Bryant, Wheaton, Coates, Miller.

No other team (NO other team) can go five-wide like that.

And Bell had 850 receiver yards last year!

[teegre]

And Bell had 850 yards receiver last year!

Spot on.

Teams want the Steelers to have five receiver sets (in order to get Bell off of the field).

To clarify, I'd never go five-wide; I'd always keep Bell on the field. But, if the Steelers did... well... they're very deep at the receiver position.

[Craic]

Martavis Bryant made that catch pretty much PURELY because of that extra twenty pounds of muscle. Watch how he powers through the hold. If this keeps up this year just may be special, at least on offense.

[86WARD]

I was pissed when they passed up Bryant to take Archer. I was ecstatic when he was there in the 4th and they took him!!

[Mojouw]

Bryant may end up surpassing his much more hyped college teamates by his second year in the league.

Whoever is currently in charge of drafting WRs for the Steelers deserves some kind of award. I mean look at this run:

Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Wheaton, Bryant, and now maybe Coates and Rogers (I realize he wasn't drafted, but someone had to scout him)...that is a pretty good stretch.

Much better than when these guys would get drafted and not even make it through camp -- Fred Gibson -- come on down!

[polamalubeast]

Bryant may end up surpassing his much more hyped college teamates by his second year in the league.

Whoever is currently in charge of drafting WRs for the Steelers deserves some kind of award. I mean look at this run:

Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Wheaton, Bryant, and now maybe Coates and Rogers (I realize he wasn't drafted, but someone had to scout him)...that is a pretty good stretch.

Much better than when these guys would get drafted and not even make it through camp -- Fred Gibson -- come on down!

I agree

The Steelers are incredible for Drafted the wide receivers and all of its names have been drafted in the 3rd round or later...The Steelers made a mistake with Limas Sweed, but since the steelers are incredible with the WR

[dislocatedday]

I honestly don't know how teams will be able to stop the Steelers offense this year, assuming everyone stays healthy.

AB has already shown he can still get open and make catches against even double-team coverage.

Now you have Martavis on the other side who is physically imposing, fast, and proved himself as a deep threat last year.

Wheaton will slide into the slot for many plays evidently, and he is a very capable and good receiver.

Plus you have Bell who is as good as any RB in this league coming out of the backfield as part of the passing game.

Are teams going to stack the line to try and stop Bell and leave less attention to the receivers? Or do they drop more into coverage leaving less men in the box for Bell? It's a pick your poison scenario for opposing defenses.

I have not even mentioned the fact that the team still has Heath Miller over the middle who has made clutch catches for a decade now.

Oh....and the Steelers have a top tier QB to get the ball to these playmakers

If Sammie Coates can come on at some point (he has the physical tools) then it makes and already scary offense downright frightening.

[86WARD]

The Steelers have always been pretty good with drafting WR...sure there have been clunkers in there, but for the most part, their WR corps has been decent. Even in Super Bowl XXX when Yancey Thigpen, Ernie Mills and Andre Hastings held their own in a Steelers uniform. I think Andre Hastings was the favorite for MVP of Super Bowl XXX if the Steelers wind up winning that game.

[lipps83]

The Steelers have always been pretty good with drafting WR...sure there have been clunkers in there, but for the most part, their WR corps has been decent. Even in Super Bowl XXX when Yancey Thigpen, Ernie Mills and Andre Hastings held their own in a Steelers uniform. I think Andre Hastings was the favorite for MVP of Super Bowl XXX if the Steelers wind up winning that game.

I agree. I even think Limas Sweed would have worked out had he not broken his wrist that year in college. He just could not catch after that, before the break I think some had him as a top 20 pick. I still think he was worth the gamble in the 2nd and not knowing the outcome would make the same choice again. Injuries change players completely sometimes. You catch with your hands, so just a wrist break can change everything. I will never call a player that was injured a bust. There is no way to know how they could have turned out minus the injury.

Yancey Thigpen was a FA pickup from the Chargers, so can't count towards drafted players. Charles Johnson wasn't bad either, but never really broke out for being a 1st round pick. Troy Edwards had an okay rookie year then could not do anything at all after that.

I think over the last 15 years or so maybe less than a handful have not really found any success.

[Mojouw]

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/draft.htm

There have been more than a couple that flamed out. This is the team that drafted Danny Farmer and Jahine Arnold at WR

[86WARD]

So since 1984:

1984
1-Louis Lipps*
4-Weegie Thompson

1987
3-Charles Lockett
9-Joey Clinkscales

1988
7-Mark Zeno

1989
3-Derek Hill
6-Mark Stock
11-Brian Slater

1990
4-Chris Calloway*
6-Ronald Heard

1991
2-Jeff Graham*
3-Ernie Mills*

1992
4-Charles Davenport

1993
3-Andre Hastings*

1994
1-Charles Johnson*

1995
7-Henry Bailey

1996
4-Jahine Arnold

1997
2-Will Blackwell
7-Mike Adams

1998
3-Hines Ward*

1999
1-Troy Edwards
5-Malcolm Johnson

2000
1-Plaxico Burress*
4-Danny Farmer

2002
2-Antwan Randle El*
6-Lee Mays

2005
4-Fred Gibson

2006
1-Santonio Holmes*
3-Willie Reid

2007
7-Dallas Baker

2008
2-Limas Sweed

2009
3-Mike Wallace*

2010
3- Emmanuel Sanders*
6-Antonio Brown*

2012
7-Toney Clemons

2013
3-Markus Wheaton
6-Justin Brown

2014
4-Martavis Bryant

2015
3-Sammie Coates

I put an * next to players that had some impact on the team or another team in the league...some picks that didn't pan out like Limas Sweed, Danny Farmer, Dallas Baker weren't terrible picks, they were more value picks than anything that just didn't pan out...not so much Sweed...but Sweed where they picked him wasn't a terrible pick.

[86WARD]

39 total WRs selected. 15 (counting Wheaton and Bryant) that have had a positive impact on the team. 38% "success rate"...that's a pretty good percentage IMO for the WR...if I'm correct...

[Mojouw]

39 total WRs selected. 15 (counting Wheaton and Bryant) that have had a positive impact on the team. 38% "success rate"...that's a pretty good percentage IMO for the WR...if I'm correct...

Nice. I just meant that the run since 2009 is simply uncanny. Considering that nothing greater than a 3rd round pick has been used to create one of the best 3-4 man units in the league, basically twice (Wallace/AB/Sanders/Wheaton and AB/Bryant/Wheaton/Coates).

[polamalubeast]

I think the only team who are good as the steelers for drafted the wide receiver in the last few years are the Packers.

[86WARD]

Nice. I just meant that the run since 2009 is simply uncanny. Considering that nothing greater than a 3rd round pick has been used to create one of the best 3-4 man units in the league, basically twice (Wallace/AB/Sanders/Wheaton and AB/Bryant/Wheaton/Coates).

Wouldn't argue that...especially if Coates is decent.

[86WARD]

I think the only team who are good as the steelers for drafted the wide receiver in the last few years are the Packers.

Or argue that...

[hawaiiansteeler]

Buzz continues to grow for big-play Steelers receiver Martavis Bryant

Jeremy Fowler, ESPN Senior NFL Writer

http://a1.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2014/1228/nfl_u_bryant_1296x518.jpg&h=402&scale=crop&w=1006&location=origin

The Steelers are expecting even bigger things from Martavis Bryant in his second year in the offense.

LATROBE, Pa. -- To understand the hype surrounding Martavis Bryant this season, I put Pittsburgh Steelers third-string quarterback Tajh Boyd to the Pepsi hype challenge.

Boyd played with Bryant and No. 4 overall pick Sammy Watkins at Clemson. So, is Bryant’s ceiling as high as Watkins’?

“Absolutely,” Boyd said. “As far as Sammy can go, [Bryant] can go and vice versa … There’s still so much room for growth with him. You’re talking potentially Pro Bowl this year, next year, whenever, as long as he wants it.”

Those are bold statements about a receiver who caught 26 passes last year. But after Bryant scored nearly every third time he touched the ball and produced 21 yards per catch, despite minimal responsibility in the offense (mostly go routes), he has the attention of Steelers’ fans.

If the second-year receiver develops like the Steelers think he will, Antonio Brown will have a legitimate No. 2 outside receiver to play alongside. Bryant’s emergence can slide Markus Wheaton (more on him in an upcoming story) to the slot full-time.

The Steelers are expanding Bryant’s workload, asking him to learn both outside receiver spots. They’ve utilized Bryant on reverses during camp. Ben Roethlisberger calls Bryant’s development in the offense “big.”

to read rest of article:

http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/14466/buzz-continues-to-grow-for-big-play-steelers-receiver-martavis-bryant