Like it or not, you’re going to hear a lot about special teams, and the importance of young players and reserves having the ability to play special teams, over the course of the next several days until the initial 53-man roster is set. It’s not just the Pittsburgh Steelers, either. Every team prioritizes special teams among their reserves, because, well, somebody’s got to do it.
And the preseason is the critical component for evaluating special teams, one of the reasons that head coach Mike Tomlin would hate to see it reduced.