Pittsburgh Steelers: Early minicamp headlines

Young pass-catchers eager to learn among crowded depth chart

Pittsburgh is mighty young at the wide receiver position, with eight players currently at the position who have three years or less experience. Antonio Brown, the second oldest receiver on the roster at a mere 28 years old, recognizes the value of his leadership and has taken the young guys under his wings, especially Eli Rogers and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Both Rogers and Smith-Schuster have gotten work as slot wide receivers thus far, and are expected to compete for playing time among an already stacked depth chart. Both have taken to Brown for their guidance.

Rogers tends to follow Brown around at practice and engage in learning the tricks of his trade whenever he can. It’s been well documented Rogers refers to Brown as an older brother, and continuously takes mental notes of almost everything Brown works on.

Similar to Rogers, JuJu Smith-Schuster takes notice of Brown’s work ethic and applies to his own. Smith-Schuster has long paid attention to Brown, even sharing an old direct message over instagram while he was still in college, asking Brown if he could share any tips. Now Smith-Schuster works next to him.

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The Steelers have some tough decisions to make when it comes to their stacked depth chart in terms of play time. It’s a tough yet good decision to have considering the core of players at their disposal, and the willingness to learn in all of them.