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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