Day 1 Report
— First round pick David DeCastro and second round pick Mike Adams went through their first practices as Pittsburgh Steelers and all eyes were on the them.
DeCastro and Adams both opened up practice with the second team at right guard and left tackle, respectively. The two would later work their way into the first team rotation that initially fielded LT Marcus Gilbert – LG Willie Colon – C Maurkice Pouncey – RG Ramon Foster – RT Trai Essex.
“A lot different seeing something in the playbook and then going on the field and doing it, ” DeCastro said, who indicated reading the playbook can only teach you so much.
DeCastro who is regarded as being relentless and never takes a play off, gives the Steelers a potential dominant interior line in 2012 if he can make a smooth transition to the NFL in year 1 and the same for veteran Willie Colon who brings a lot of strength and power inside.
When Adams and DeCastro joined the Steelers first-team rotation, from left to right it included: LT Mike Adams – LG Willie Colon – C Maurkice Pouncey – RG David DeCastro – RT Marcus Gilbert
Although Ramon Foster has proven to be an adequate guard and gets overlooked, there are few doubts inside the organization of Decastro being able to win the starting right guard job in traning camp. As for Mike Adams, we won’t learn much this week about him as he remains a major wildcard going into camp on whether he can transition into a starting left tackle so quickly.
Adams who was known for taking plays off in college, already got an earful from offensive line coach Sean Kugler today when Kugler felt Adams quit on a play. Kugler will be riding him hard throughout the summer and season.

The focus from the Steelers coaching staff is for Adams to work exclusively at left tackle but the second rounder is saying the right things in that he’s open to right tackle. “I’ll do anything they want me to do, ” Adams said.
— Massive nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu, the team’s fourth-round pick from Washington, also made his debut today after not being able to participate in OTA’s. Ta’amu is truly massive but don’t be looking for him to see much of a role in his rookie season. He spoke a bit today about the differences from the scheme he played in college to now with the Steelers, which is less aggressive for a nose tackle. “At Washington {as a d-linemen}, you want to shoot and get deep in your gaps, while here you just want to stay with man and play gap defense, Ta’amu said. “You get out of your gap and you mess up the whole defense. It’s hard.”
— Mike Wallace, as expected, was a no show today and won’t be attending minicamp. While Todd Haley is said to have a great admiration of Antonio Brown for what he brings to the table on and off the field, Haley is said is to be very intrigued about Emmanuel Sanders being able to excel in a quick passing game that Haley will be looking to implement. Sanders claims he is 100% after knee and foot injuries have plagued him for two seasons. If he can stay healthy, he’s going to do some good things in Haley’s offense.
— The Steelers coaching staff felt Jason Worild’s development last season took a hit due to their being no organized team activities with the lockout. It’s been another lost off-season for Worilds who can’t participate as he’s recovering from wrist surgery. The Steelers expect Worilds to be ready for camp and while there’s been talk internally about Worilds getting some looks inside, the focus for linebackers coach Keith Butler is going to remain on developing Worild’s outside. He’s entering a big year.