Pittsburgh Steelers – James Washington
The Steelers are running on borrowed time. Ben Roethlisberger spoke about retirement last season, Le’Veon Bell is on his way out after this season, and the team traded Martavis Bryant to the Raiders during the 2018 Draft. The pieces are still there, but the question is, “for how long?” The Steelers and Patriots have ruled the AFC for years, can they adapt and change as time goes on? It will be interesting to keep an eye on this team this season and beyond.
Washington will likely play the slot receiver in the Steelers offense. He was selected in the 2018 NFL Draft in the second round. While Washington does not have blazing speed, he is very good at tracking deep passes. He also has very good acceleration off of the line of scrimmage. Washington is a new target that may find himself open down the sidelines early and often.
San Francisco 49ers – Jerick McKinnon
The 49ers struggled for a lot of the 2017 season. However, when Jimmy Garoppolo took the reigns at the end of the year, the team won four straight games. This is another team that will be extremely interesting to watch. I have no idea if this team is for real and neither does anyone else. I like the 49ers chances of making a big bounce back.
I believe that the 49ers have big plans in store for Jerick McKinnon. He signed a big contract this offseason to go to San Francisco. In fact, many thought the contract was a little too big for his caliber of talent. To me, this signals that the team wants to use him a lot. He is a decent receiver out of the backfield and is a shifty runner in space. Look for big things out of McKinnon this season.