Tuesday, July 30, 2013
pittsburgh steelers
Associated Press
LATROBE, Pa.
David Paulson stood on practice field No. 1 on Sunday afternoon, the second-year Pittsburgh Steelers tight end standing next to All-Pro teammate Heath Miller while the two watched one of Miller’s children do their own imitation of a 40-yard dash.
Slouched over a bit, flushed cheeks making the 24-year-old Paulson look a decade younger, Paulson looked a bit like Miller’s little brother. And in a way, perhaps he is.
While Miller remains on the physically unable to perform list as he continues to recover from a gruesome left knee injury last season, the timeline on Paulson’s apprenticeship is speeding up.
In the span of a year, the soft-spoken kid taken as a seventh-round flier in the 2012 draft is possibly the team’s best pass catching option until Miller returns.
Not that Paulson wants to talk about it.
Even after catching a handful of passes from Ben Roethlisberger — including a diving grab in front of LaMarr Woodley — during a seven-on-seven drill on the second day of training camp, Paulson shrugs his shoulders and looks at the ground when asked to discuss his rise up the depth chart in 12 short months.
“I’m a little more comfortable and I know what to expect out of training camp,” said Paulson, who caught seven passes in limited playing time in 2012. “I know the offense. I’m more comfortable with the people here.”
Certainly looks like it.
Then again, Paulson’s always been able to get his hands on the football.
He caught 67 passes for 1,041 and 10 touchdowns in his final two years at Oregon.
Lining up in the slot, Paulson used his 6-foot-4 body to create matchup problems with opposing linebackers and safeties in the Ducks’ up-tempo attack.
The Steelers saw enough on film to grab Paulson with the 240th pick in the draft even though Miller is in the midst of a stellar career and veterans David Johnson and Leonard Pope were on the roster.
Tight ends coach James Daniels’ recommendation to general manager Kevin Colbert when Daniels saw Paulson’s name still on the board was simple.
“I thought he was a really good football player,” Daniels said. “I thought he was better than a seventh-round pick for sure.”
Rounding out the edges, however, will take some time. Paulson spent his entire college career off the line of scrimmage. He was adequate as a blocker, but it wasn’t exactly the most important part of his job.
If Paulson wants to become an every-down player in the NFL, it will have to be.
At 246 pounds, Paulson allows he’s a hardly a “monster.”
While he’s tried to put “good weight” on, it hasn’t been easy.
And while Daniels believes Paulson has taken a step forward when it comes to moving defenders around in close quarters, there’s still plenty of work to be done.
“He won some battles for us at the line of scrimmage last year and he didn’t win some,” Daniels said. “Hopefully the wins outnumber the losses.
“I don’t think there’s any question that if we call on him for it, he’ll win more times than he gets beat.”