Jaylen Samuels smiled at the question. It's not the first time he's been asked where exactly he fits on the football field.
The answer during Samuels' time at North Carolina State depended on when you asked him.
Tight end? Fullback? Tailback? Wide receiver? Safety? At some point
Cheap Kemoko Turay Jersey , the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie played them all for the Wolfpack.
He doesn't see that being an issue in the NFL. At least not in Pittsburgh anyway. The Steelers made it clear when they called him on the final day of the
draft last month and told him they were taking him in the fifth round.
Samuels is a running back. And only a running back. For now anyway. Yet even as he explains his comfort level in a room that's currently missing Le'Veon Bell
??who is skipping organized team activities while waiting to sign his one-year
franchise tender ??Samuels also tips his hand. He might not be done moving
around the field just yet.
"I'm also in the slot, playing a little bit of that position, being able to run some routes, catch some balls in the slot, outside, wherever they want me,"
Samuels said on Wednesday.
Sounds an awful lot like what the Steelers ask Bell to do. Of course, Bell is a three-time Pro Bowler, a two-time All-Pro and one of the most dynamic players
in the NFL. Samuels is none of those things. He's just a 21-year-old trying to
find his way and hardly the only one in a backfield that is wide open behind
Bell.
Former Pitt star James Conner showed flashes as a rookie last fall before a knee injury ended his season. Stevan Ridley arrived in December as a stopgap and
did enough to earn a one-year deal for 2018. Fitzgerald Toussaint remains on the
fringe of the picture too. Jarvion Franklin and James Summers are unknowns.
Bell's long-term status is uncertain. He says he wants to be in Pittsburgh for the duration of his career. The Steelers do too. And yet if the two sides
don't reach an agreement on a new contract by the mid-July deadline, 2018 will
almost certainly be Bell's last year with the Steelers.
While Conner and Samuels are saying the right things ??that the starting job is Bell's whenever he shows up and for as long as he's on the roster ??both
understand the opportunity the extra snaps created by Bell's absence offers.
So does their quarterback.
"This is a big time for James with some of the injuries that he had last year and learning last year," Ben Roethlisberger said. "I think this will be really
good for him to get as many reps as possible."
Though Conner remains a work in progress in the passing game, Samuels has wasted little time proving he knows what he's doing when he lines up as a
receiver. During a 2-point conversion drill on Wednesday, he hauled in a
beautiful catch over a linebacker for a conversion, a grab that earned a roar
from the sideline.
"It wasn't nothing new for me," Samuels said with a shrug.
Not by a longshot. Samuels set a school record by catching 202 passes at N.C. State
Cheap Austin Corbett Jersey , and his 47 touchdowns rank second all-time in program history. He believes he has a "knack" for getting over the goal line,
and whenever the Wolfpack would get inside the opponent's 20, offensive
coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz has a special section on his playcall sheet just for
Samuels.
"It was just 'JaySam' plays," Samuels said. "Just for whenever he wanted me to get the ball. If it was third down, fourth down, he'd just put me in the
backfield and put me in the slot and try to get me the ball."
Yet Samuels is just as comfortable lining up behind the quarterback too, a transition that began in earnest during his final season with the Wolfpack. He
averaged 5.2 yards per carry in 2017 and ran for 12 touchdowns despite averaging
just six rushes per game.
At 6-feet and 225 pounds, he considers himself a power guy with a dash of breakaway ability thrown in for good measure.
Still, NFL scouts didn't quite know what to make of him. He worked out with the tight ends at the draft combine, doing just two drills with the running
backs. He thinks that's one of the reasons he was still there in the fifth round
waiting for his name to be called. Getting passed over bothered him. More than a
little.
"I felt disrespected going as late as I did," Samuels said. "But that's just going to be motivation for me."
No matter where ??or when ??he lines up.
NOTES: The Steelers and third-round pick Mason Rudolph agreed to a four-year deal on Wednesday, leaving first-round pick Terrell Edmunds as the only
selection yet to sign. ... Roethlisberger was not on the field Wednesday.
Four of the five teams that gave up the fewest points during the regular season are the last four left with a shot at the Super Bowl, something that had
never happened since the NFL-AFL merger nearly a half-century ago.
And three of the four toughest to gain yards against are still around, too.
Still think that all a team needs to succeed in the modern game is an elite QB? Go ahead and take a close look at Sunday’s matchups for the conference
championship games.
Sure, Tom Brady (assuming his injured right hand is good to go) and the New England Patriots will be playing for the AFC title
Authentic Erik Karlsson Jersey , just like they always do, but they’ll be going up against Blake Bortles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Over in the NFC,
the Philadelphia Eagles will send Nick Foles out to face the Minnesota Vikings
and Case Keenum, hardly a marquee matchup between quarterbacks, and one set up
by injuries to other signal-callers.
What this quartet of teams does have in common is solid defense, showing once again that while everyone is paying so much attention to one side of the ball,
it’s the other that might truly matter the most. The more league rules and
officiating tend to favor offenses, the more figuring out ways to slow that down
is imperative.
”When you have a defense that can shut that type of firepower down,” said Brian Robison, a linebacker on the Vikings defense that ranked No. 1 in yards
and points allowed, ”it allows you to win ballgames.”
Minnesota gave up 15.8 points per game. Jacksonville was No. 2 at 16.8, followed by No. 4 Philadelphia’s 18.4 and No. 5 New England’s 18.5.
”There’s teams that have really good defenses that aren’t talked about,” Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. ”We’re one of them.”
It’s the first time since the 1970 merger there has been that sort of defensive dominance among the NFL’s final four. The closest was at the end of
the 2010 season, when teams that ranked No. 1 (Steelers), No. 2
(Packers)
Authentic Danny Shelton Jersey , No. 4 (Bears) and No. 6 (Jets) in points allowed reached the conference title games.
”The most heralded guys on the field are the quarterbacks. So I would say, nine times out of 10, your detail goes into your offensive planning and things
like that,” said Jacksonville’s leading tackler, Telvin Smith, who returned a
fumble 50 yards for a touchdown last weekend. ”Offense sells tickets, and
defense wins championships. I’m happy I’m on the defensive side.”
He is part of a young, talented and speedy D that rose to prominence quickly via a combination of shrewd drafting (linebackers Smith and Myles Jack,
defensive ends Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler Jr., cornerback Jalen Ramsey)
and free-agent signings that panned out (defensive lineman Calais Campbell,
cornerback A.J. Bouye, safeties Barry Church and Tashaun Gipson).
Take a look at the regular-season rankings in various defensive categories, and you can’t miss the Jaguars. That helps explain how they made it this far
with Bortles, whose 84.7 rating ranked 22nd among QBs with at least 100 pass
attempts and whose 13 interceptions were exceeded by only six players.
Campbell tied for second in NFL with 14.5 sacks, while Ngakoue added 12 and led the league by forcing six fumbles. Bouye tied for third with six
interceptions
Bo Scarbrough Jersey Cowboys , while Ramsey, Gipson and Church each had four. As a unit, the Jaguars were No. 2 in yards allowed at 286.1, trailing
the No. 1 Vikings (275.9), with the Eagles (306.5) at No. 4. The Jaguars were
also second in sacks and total takeaways, while they topped the NFL with seven
defensive TDs.
Exceptional defense can carry a team far: In nine of the last 10 seasons, the No. 1 or No. 2 team in points allowed participated in a conference championship
game. The exception was 2015, when the Seahawks led the league in that category
but lost in the divisional round, and the Bengals ranked second but lost in the
wild-card round.
”Now it’s down to, `May the best defense win,”’ Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham said. ”We each get to showcase what we can do.”
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AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell in Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Kyle Hightower in Foxborough, Massachusetts; Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida; and Rob Maaddi in
Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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