Tag: james conner

2020 NFL draft: RB Cam Akers NFL draft profile

Steelers Wire draft profile featuring RB Cam Akers (Florida State).

Five-star running back Cam Akers was highly-recruited out of Mississippi’s Clinton High School and the top RB in the nation in 2017.

When Akers came to FSU, he had big shoes to fill — those of Dalvin Cook, who went on to be drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 draft. Akers may not have lived up to Cook’s numbers, due in part to a porous offensive line and overall team performance, but he did break his predecessor’s freshman rushing record with 1,024 yards and seven touchdowns.

The multi-talented RB finished his Seminoles career with 2,875 yards rushing on 586 attempts for 4.9 yards per carry and 27 TDs. He tacked onto that 486 yards receiving and seven scores.

Cam Akers | RB | Florida State University

Height | 5-10

Weight | 217

Class | Junior

College Bio

Career Stats

The Steelers need to address the running back position in the 2020 draft. James Conner is in the final season of his contract and one injury away from not getting an extension. The fact that he hasn’t played a full season since being drafted does not bode well for him.

Jaylen Samuels nor Benny Snell, Jr., have shown they have what it takes to be “the guy”. Akers has just the body of work to lead the run attack and, in certain situations, can be used in special plays as a passer to throw off the opposition.

Akers is being projected as the No. 4 RB in the draft meaning the Steelers would have to take him with their first pick (49).

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Ben Roethlisberger and JuJu Smith-Schuster send Ramon Foster love

Steelers players congratulate their former teammate on his retirement

Pittsburgh Steelers players took to Twitter Monday to congratulate their former teammate Ramon Foster on his retirement.

Foster retired Monday after 11 seasons with the Steelers. He was the second longest-tenured player behind Ben Roethlisberger.

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Pittsburgh Steelers positional unit preview ahead of free agency: Running backs

A look at the Pittsburgh Steelers RB depth chart prior to the free agency period

On March 18, the new league year starts, and every team will hit the ground running in preparations for the 2020 season. We are going to take a look at where each of the Pittsburgh Steelers positional units stand heading into the offseason.

Running backs

James Conner: In 2018, Conner nearly made the Steelers forget the Le’Veon Bell shenanigans after he gained 1,470 yards from scrimmage and found paydirt 13 times. Except for a 145-yard game versus a Miami Dolphins team ranked last in the NFL, Conner averaged just 35 yards per game in 2019. He also suffered a number of injuries throughout the year that forced him to miss six games. Unfortunately, inconsistency and injury-riddled seasons bring his reliability into question.

Benny Snell, Jr.: As a rookie, Snell showed flashes as he rushed for 426 yards in 13 games after starting the season on special teams (he sat out three matchups last year after arthroscopic surgery). Snell’s youth should help him take a leap forward in 2020.

Jaylen Samuels: In Week 4 of last season, Samuels got to show off his versatility. Running several plays out of the Wildcat formation, he became only the second player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to have three pass completions, three rushes and three receptions in a game. The following week Samuels sustained a knee injury and missed the next three games. He finished out the season with 125 yards on 48 attempts.

Outlook: Last season, the Steelers proved it’s difficult to have any semblance of a ground game without a passing game. Hopes are that Conner can get back to 2018 form after a subpar 2019 campaign. Mike Tomlin is known to utilize depth sparingly at the RB position, so if Conner can avoid injury, his backups will likely see very little playing time.

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Top 3 Steelers who need a big comeback in 2020

Pittsburgh needs big bounceback seasons from all three of these guys.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

The Pittsburgh Steelers roster in 2020 is going to look very different than the one which failed to make the playoffs in 2019. Free agents will leave and be replaced with cheaper options. Salary cap casualties will be replaced by young guys and the Steelers will get some guys back who were injured in 2019.

Here are the three Steelers due for a big bounceback in 2020.

DL Stephon Tuitt

The forgotten man from last season is Tuitt. He was off to a great start before an injury sent him to the IR and cost him the last 10 games of the year. It was easy to not give Tuitt much thought since the defense stepped up and played so well in his absence. But with Javon Hargrave likely to leave via free agency, Tuitt’s presence will be vital to this team’s success in 2020.

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Steelers RB James Conner puts out autobiography

You need to read the story of how James Conner became an NFL running back.

If you don’t know the story of how Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner, now is your chance to read the whole amazing story. Conner announced on social media on Thursday his autobiography, “Fear is a Choice” is available for pre-order.

Conner’s story is remarkable. He overcame cancer when he was playing for the University of Pittsburgh to get drafted in the third round by the Steelers. He’s been the starting running back for the Steelers the last two seasons and his success epitomizes his attitude and determination.

This book is going to be a must-buy for ever Steelers fan.

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Steelers RB James Conner to send military veteran to Super Bowl

James Conner worked to get a Pennsylvania military veteran to the Super Bowl.

Sometimes we get so focused on the negativity and drama in the NFL, the good news can get missed.  We wanted to make sure we weren’t guilty of this as well so we had to share this great story about Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner.

Conner worked with Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA) and USAA to send Chief Louis Boykin to the Super Bowl in Miami next month. Boykin is from Pennsylvania.

“With over three decades of military service to his name, Command Chief Master Sergeant Louis Boykin is someone our country owes a debt of gratitude to,” said James Conner. “I am honored to team up with USAA and the AFSA to provide a trip to the Super Bowl to recognize Chief Boykin’s honorable military career and am looking forward to meeting him in Miami.”

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2019 Steelers season in review: Running backs

The Steelers run game was a mess last season.

Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

In 2018, the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the prolific offenses in the NFL in large part because they completely abandoned the run game and just let quarterback Ben Roethlisberger air it out. This season, when Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending elbow injury, you might have thought it would have prompted the Steelers staff to really focus on running the ball.

But if you thought that, you would be wrong. Instead the Steelers had one of the worst rushing seasons in recent history and certainly the worst under head coach Mike Tomlin. Here’s how the run game broke down (literally).

James Conner-This was supposed to be Conner’s breakout year. But as with 2018, injuries were just too much for Conner and there are serious questions if he can really be this team’s feature back. Conner missed six games with various injuries.

464 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns

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5 bold predictions for the Ravens in Week 17 vs. Steelers

With both the Ravens and Steelers seeing key starters sit in Week 17, our bold predictions feature some new names and stats to reflect it.

The Baltimore Ravens will look to sweep the Pittsburgh Steelers this season, finishing their regular season campaign in Week 17 against their division rival. But both teams will be without key contributors that could make this a more sluggish affair.

The Ravens are resting several starters with the No. 1 seed already locked up, giving them two weeks without any gameday action. The Steelers are banged up and have already ruled out starting center Maurkice Pouncey and running back James Conner.

So our bold predictions for this week reflect the change in rosters, giving us some new names to focus on. Take a look at what the writers here at Ravens Wire believe could happen this week.

Matthew Stevens:

Justice Hill has his first 100-yard game on the ground

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

I’ve been a big fan of Hill after seeing him play in Baltimore. In spite of his smaller stature, Hill has shown enough grit and power to go along with his speed and that makes him very dangerous. With Mark Ingram sitting out and Gus Edwards potentially seeing a smaller snap count this week, the Ravens’ rushing attack should fall on Hill’s shoulders, especially if he starts out strong.

Hill breaks off a few big runs and gets enough carries to go over 100 rushing yards in this game, which bookends his first career touchdown run from last week.

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The trick to Pittsburgh’s takeaways and other questions for Steelers Wire in Week 17

I sat down with Steelers Wire managing editor Curt Popejoy to not only get some insight on what Pittsburgh has going on now but their future.

The Baltimore Ravens wrap up their regular season with yet another AFC North rivalry, this time against the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, this game doesn’t mean much to Baltimore and will see several key starters sitting out to rest up for the postseason.

I sat down with managing editor Curt Popejoy of Steelers Wire to not only see what Pittsburgh has going on right now but to get an early preview of their offseason. Take a look at our five questions with the enemy this week to see where the Steelers stand in Week 17.

James Conner is ruled out. Who will be his replacement and what differences can we expect there?

Conner has missed so much football this season it’s hard to imagine the team is even giving it much thought. Once again it’ll be some combination of Benny Snell Jr., Jaylen Samuels and Kerrith Whyte trying to create something of a run game. I want to say the Steelers are going to make a stronger effort to establish the run this week but I’ve been saying it for a month and it hasn’t happened.

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Steelers RB James Conner OUT for remainder of the game

The Steelers will be without James Conner for the remainder of the game.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were hoping to get a fully healthy James Conner back this week against the New York Jets. But while he seems free of his shoulder injury, Conner suffered a thigh injury and according to the team has been ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Conner had six carries for 32 yards prior to the injury. With Conner out of the lineup, the run game has been stagnant. This means it could be down to quarterback Mason Rudolph to carry the offense after coming in off the bench to replace a struggling Devlin Hodges.

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