STEELERS ORGANIZATION EXCITED ABOUT ‘OPPORTUNITY’ CONNER NOW HAS WITH

While Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would obviously like to have running back Le’Veon Bell with the team right now, he thinks his absence might be a blessing of sorts when it comes to the further development of second-year running back James Conner. During a Friday night interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Roethlisberger explained why Bell being absent the remainder of the offseason will likely help not only Conner, but the Steelers offensive line as well.

Conner has seemingly had a very good training camp to date and Steelers team president Art Rooney II even indicated as much during his Friday night interview with Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller on ‘Movin’ the Chains.’

Even Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert is very excited to see what Conner can do between now and the start of the regular season.

James gets to take advantage of these reps and it’s important for him. Last year he pulled a hamstring in rookie minicamp and then he finally gets out here and he dings a shoulder, then he dinged a knee. Then [he] got himself healthy and was doing some good things and had the knee injury against New England.

While Conner struggled in pass protection during his limited playing time as a rookie, it certainly seems like he’s made strides in that phase of his game this offseason. After the team’s annual Friday night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium, head Coach Mike Tomlin was asked if he was impressed with Conner’s showing in the backs-on-backers blocking drill.

The Steelers first preseason game of 2018 is now less than a week away and one has to think that Conner will start that game against the Philadelphia Eagles and thus get a fair share of early carries. He ran well in his limited opportunities during his rookie season and if he can continue to do that during the preseason in addition to showing that his pass protection has drastically improved, it will give the team a lot of confidence when it comes to them knowing they have capable depth should something ultimately happen to Bell.