Early Predictions for Pittsburgh Steelers' 2015 Training-Camp Battles

The Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp does not begin until June, but positional battles are already underway, thanks to weeks of OTAs already wrapped, more on the way and mandatory minicamp taking place in June.

The Steelers will need to sort out a number of key positions on both offense and defense, which should make for a compelling summer for the team. Here are five positional battles and early predictions on how they could play out.

All eyes are on the safety position, now that Troy Polamalu is retired. Mike Mitchell should reprise his role as free safety—unless head coach Mike Tomlin really is as open to moving him to strong safety as he said in March—leaving Polamalu's old position up for grabs.

At first blush, 2013 fourth-round draft pick Shamarko Thomas seems like he has the highest odds of leaping into the starting lineup this year. But Thomas played only two snaps as a safety last year and has been struggling through a series of injuries, including two to his hamstrings last year. In order to develop as a player, he must be on the field and practicing.

He will be pushed by veteran Will Allen, who took up the slack last year when both Thomas and Polamalu were hurt and received a new, one-year deal from the Steelers as a result. Though Allen, who turns 33 in June, is no spring chicken, he does have experience in Pittsburgh's defense and no injury history.

Allen may, for now, appear to be the backup plan if Thomas' growth is not as rapid as the Steelers hope, but he could easily climb up the depth chart to become a starter this year.

Though Thomas has marks against him, the longstanding belief that he was drafted two years ago to eventually replace Polamalu gives him the edge in this positional battle at this time.

Outside linebacker was one of the Steelers' thinnest positions this offseason, but they've done a good job in the past months of adding reinforcements. They brought back both James Harrison and Arthur Moats and drafted Bud Dupree in Round 1 of the 2015 draft and Anthony Chickillo in Round 6. The four men join 2013 Round 1 pick Jarvis Jones at the position.

Jones has been a bit of a disappointment, but it's too soon to call him a bust—especially with his missing nine regular-season games last year with a wrist injury. Still, his three sacks in two years is a paltry number considering it was his edge-rushing speed and ability to disrupt quarterbacks that caught the Steelers' eye initially.

Jones will have another chance to prove himself this year. He will be competing with Harrison for the honor to start at right outside linebacker. But linebackers coach Joey Porter has maintained that Harrison will be on a snap count this year of 25 plays per game, opening the door to Jones having a productive year and the potential to be a starter.

Porter said earlier this month to Ralph N. Paulk of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "I told him already, the James Harrison [of before] is over. He's going to play his role, and his role is going to be effective. He knows what we're asking out of him, and he's going to be ready to answer the bell."

Porter, who spoke with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette a few days later, is also optimistic about Jones' 2015:

I thought Jarvis was playing good last year until he got hurt. So it doesn't bother me on how it ended last year with Jarvis. I still think he is one of the better linebackers in the league and he will be that. It just hasn’t happened yet.

He's doing some things that he knows he needs to do to get better for this year. He's not naive to know what he's done so far. It doesn't meet his standards and he knows there's a lot more in there.

On the left, the competition will be between Moats, who joined the Steelers last year and recorded 23 combined tackles and four sacks, and the rookie Dupree. Given Dupree's draft pedigree, the Steelers will work hard to get him into starting form. But Moats has proved he's worthy of a role on Pittsburgh's defense. 

Ultimately, Harrison will be a starter to open the season for the Steelers, but his snap count will mean considerable playing time for Jones and a chance to wrest the starting job away. Dupree should be the starter on the left, with Moats rotating in as needed.

Yes, punters, as the saying goes, are people too. Football hinges on field position, so a punter's ability to pin teams deep into their own territory is prized in the NFL. And the Steelers know this—that's why they aren't simply content to go into 2015 with Brad Wing. They have brought along Jordan Berry to compete with him.

Wing ranked 29th among punting yardage last year, with 2,667 yards on his 61 punts, while his net yards per punt were 38.8 yards, which ranked 20th. Only 20 of his punts were inside opponents' 20-yard lines. Because of this, the Steelers would like to see if Berry, a fellow Australian, can beat him out.

As Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot points out, Berry's 43.8 average yards per punt at Eastern Kentucky was a school record. Furthermore, 22 percent of his punts traveled 50 yards or more during his collegiate career and 30 percent in his senior year. Berry clearly has the stronger leg than Wing.

But Berry does not have NFL experience, and punting well in a live-game situation is far different than a few kicks during practice. For this reason, the competition between Berry and Wing will mostly play itself out during the team's five preseason games more than it will in camp. Though Wing has the edge in experience, Berry's big leg could be more than enough to earn him the job this year.

It wasn't just the retirement of veteran Ike Taylor that put the Steelers in bad shape at the cornerback position. It was also losing Brice McCain in free agency and the fact that the team gave Cortez Allen a four-year, $24.6 million contract extension prior to the 2014 season, only to see him go from starter on the outside to inside to the slot and ultimately to the bench.

But the Steelers aren't fools. They addressed cornerback not once but twice in the 2015 draft, taking Senquez Golson in Round 2 and Doran Grant in Round 4. They also brought back free agent Antwon Blake. Now, the Steelers have more options. Determining their 2015 starters at the position will be a major focus in training camp this summer.

Gay's job is not in jeopardy. He had 69 combined tackles in 2014, 12 passes defensed and three interceptions, all returned for touchdowns.

The question arises, though, when considering who starts opposite him. Given Allen's contract, he'll have first crack at it. And defensive backs coach Carnell Lake believes that Allen will rebound in 2015:

I know from talking to [Allen] he had some issues with lower extremities and was injured most of the year. He was fighting through that and I knew it really affected his game. Playing the game myself, I know that if you can't run, it's hard to play corner. I mean, it's almost impossible, really. So I have to give him credit for fighting through it.

That leaves slot cornerback up for grabs. Golson, who is physical for his size, seems perfect for the job. But Blake already has done the job well, totaling 42 combined tackles, six passes defensed and one interception in 275 snaps played, according to Pro Football Focus. But he also gave up five touchdowns in that small amount of playing time. If Golson is less of a touchdown liability, he should supplant Blake on the depth chart as the nickel corner.

For the past two years, Steelers' starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has completed all 16 regular-season games. This is quite the feat, given his injury history that generally had cost him a game or more per campaign in the past. But that doesn't mean the Steelers can rest on their laurels and have just anyone backing up Roethlisberger on the depth chart. Anything is possible.

For the last two seasons, his primary backup has been Bruce Gradkowski. Behind him since 2013 has been fourth-round draft pick Landry Jones. This offseason, the Steelers added Tajh Boyd, a 2014 sixth-round pick of the New York Jets who was released by his former team in final roster cuts that year.

Though Jones has had two years to prove he can be more than a No. 3 quarterback, he's struggled to beat out Gradkowski for the No. 2 job. In fact, the two men had similar preseason performances last year.

Both appeared in three games. Gradkowski completed 23 of his 36 pass attempts—or 63.9 percent—for 218 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while taking three sacks. Jones completed 27 of his 44 attempts—or 61.4 percent—for 224 yards, no scores and one interception.

The difference, though, was that Jones was sacked six times in the 2014 preseason. Boyd's 2014 preseason wasn't great, with just eight completions on 17 attempts, for 98 yards, one score and no picks while taking two sacks, but he's also the least experienced of the three.

The goal is to see some tangible progress out of Jones so he can move up to being Roethlisberger's primary backup. Boyd may be a camp arm for now, but he could possess a higher ceiling than Jones—so much so that he could push Jones off the roster. After all, Jones may be on such a permanent plateau that Gradkowski, who hasn't started a regular-season game since 2010, simply holds onto his backup job by default.

Though it may not come to pass that Roethlisberger's backup matters this year, until the 2015 season completely comes to an end, having the right man behind him on the depth chart will be important.

Will Jones ever improve? Is Boyd better than expected? Or does Gradkowski get the clipboard-holding honor for one more year? Gradkowski has the edge, which means Boyd and Jones are simply fighting to still have jobs in the NFL.