– We knew Diontae Spencer could jet but his wheels on display today. He’s made plays downfield the first two practices.
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/07/20...diary-day-two/
– We knew Diontae Spencer could jet but his wheels on display today. He’s made plays downfield the first two practices.
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/07/20...diary-day-two/
Will be interesting to hear about Spencer when the pads go on.
• Johnson continued to be largely invisible at practice, the third-round pick noticeable more for his drops or missed connections than for receptions. The best receiver named “Diontae” through two days has been CFL star Spencer and not Johnson. Spencer had two nice plays in one 11-on-11 session, once beating Artie Burns for a long touchdown, another time putting a nice move on Herb Waters for a catch.
https://triblive.com/sports/steelers...t-an-easy-one/
So the other dude made two plays on a guy who will be bagging groceries in month and a guy who should be bagging groceries now.
Excuse me while I remain unconvinced of anything. Let's let the kid make the jump from the MAC for more than 4 days before we bury him. If someone from the CFL can't come in and make plays on bottom tier camp fodder, well maybe the CFL should fold.
Steelers already know the six wr's they are keeping! Spencer would have to be amazing in the preseason games to make the roster! If he makes it and not very likely that will mean Switz or Rogers goes. My guess is Rogers. Again not very likely!
I do not bury Johnson, but I admit I'd wish that he would have been better than being invisible in the first few day especially without the pads!
To be honest, his stats were low because of his playing time ... Brown had shown a lot of flash during practices, training camp and preseason in 2010.
Last edited by polamalubeast; 07-28-2019 at 06:30 AM.
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I hope he is fine..
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Speed kills.
It'll be interesting how many WR's they keep. I've noted months back that when the Steelers keep 6 WR's it's mostly due to the fact the 6th guy can play on coverage units. The known names on the roster don't have that abilty.
Either way, I like what I'm hearing about the WR group.
Eli and Switzer have the trust of the coaches and Ben. Eli is a punt returner. Switzer is a KO returner. Spencer returns both. If Spencer continues to have a very productive preseason(I think Spencer is 4'3" and 75lbs) he may replace Eli OR Switzer on the 53. I seriously doubt we will see all 3 unless there are a few injuries. Although having several WRs that play ST plus WR is tempting depending on who they would replace.
The steelers can not put Eli Rogers as punt returner ... It was awful ... Even Tomlin had lost confidence in him back in 2017 after his fumble in Chicago in week 3.You can't fumble as returner!
Johnson could be one of our punt returner.
I agree if this is the case.
Switzer seems to be the safe pick for that ... The only thing I want from a returner is not fumble and also to take the yards that are available
If our returner would be the next Devin Hester, that would be amazing, but the two things I want from a returner is that.
Also no penalty, but the penalty is not on the control to the returner unless this player wants to do too much.
– Nice to see Diontae Johnson show up a little more today with his two touchdowns in seven shots.
– Like seeing Diontae Spencer’s speed on display but the diving catch over the middle on Layne was even more impressive. That was a football play. Nice start for him but be warned, receivers have gone down this path before only to fade at the end (see Damoun Patterson last year).
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/07/20...ary-day-three/
Wide Receiver
– JuJu Smith-Schuster looks like his usual, excellent self. Donte Moncrief off to a nice start, on the same page with Ben Roethlisberger, until he suffered that finger injury yesterday. James Washington has been a little up and down but shown the ability to stack corners and find the ball over the top. It’s been a fine start. Diontae Johnson has to see the ball in and not get upfield too quickly but with the ball in his hands, he’s quick-twitch with the ability to stop-start and make taller corners and safeties struggle to keep up. Diontae Spencer has shown big-play ability with some technique and burst at the top of his route as a route runner. Eli Rogers has run ahead of Ryan Switzer and made a bigger impact in team drills while Tevin Jones and (especially) Trey Griffey have been very quiet.
– Plenty of four receiver sets, maximizing the talent and depth they have, and you’re going to see four – and maybe even five – wide this year.
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/07/20...tial-thoughts/
I would not be surprised if Vance McDonald is 2nd for receiving yards for the steelers in 2019 ... Let's hope he'll stay healthy, which was the case last year when he play the last 15 games after missing the training camp and week one...
The chemistry between him and Ben was also excellent last year too.
I think James Washington will emerge as the real #2 in terms of production. There's a reason he went in R2.
From what it sounds like from the camp reports is that nobody can cover that Diontae Spencer kid. The guy might push Switzer off the roster if he keeps it up.
Crazy to think about it but who would have thought that WR could be a strong suit already just one year after losing AB? Camp reports are saying Moncrief and Spencer look good, and that Washington looks ready for his 2nd year. Not to mention we also got that guy Samuels who had good production split out wide also.
It could be the case
They are going to need to prove that on the field, but this core could be a strength for the team ... It could also be a weakness if the worst scenario happens and no one outside of JuJu becomes above average.
We're going to see, I hope(and I think) this core is going to be productive, but it's the position where no one can be certain what to expect ... It could be great and it could be bad or it could be in between .
Eli Rogers (3 targets, 2 catch) and Ryan Switzer (5 target, 5 catch) have not had a lot of target right now, I do not know why, maybe it's because they are not often open or that they are not often used.
Switzer was also our punt returner last year, so that may be an advantage for him. I would be surprised if he is cut ... It could happen for Rogers too.
JuJu Smith-Schuster: 13/21 207 yards 3 TDs – 61.9%
James Washington: 10/19 107 yards 1 TD – 52.6%
Donte Moncrief: 13/17 125 yards 2 TDs – 76.5%
Diontae Johnson: 8/14 63 yards 3 TDs – 57.1%
Vance McDonald: 8/13 48 yards 1 TD – 61.5%
Diontae Spencer: 7/11 107 yards – 63.6%
Tevin Jones: 4/8 28 yards – 50%
Jaylen Samuels: 6/7 33 yards – 85.7%
James Conner: 6/7 24 yards 1 TD – 85.7%
Ryan Switzer: 5/5 39 yards – 100%
Kevin Rader: 2/5 11 yards 1 TD – 40%
Trey Edmunds: 5/5 9 yards – 100%
Ralph Webb: 4/4 33 yards – 100%
Trevor Wood: 4/4 24 yards 1 TD – 100%
Zach Gentry: 3/4 26 yards – 75%
Christian Scotland-Williamson: 2/4 9 yards – 50%
Eli Rogers: 2/3 29 yards – 66%
Xavier Grimble: 2/3 18 yards 1 TD – 66%
Benny Snell: 2/3 15 yards – 66%
Travon McMillan: 1/2 8 yards – 50%
Malik Williams: 1/2 7 yards – 50%
Johnny Holton: 1/1 10 yards – 100%
Roosevelt Nix: 1/1 6 yards – 100%
Trey Griffey: 0/1 0 yards – 0%
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/07/20...our-practices/