The Pittsburgh Steelers begin their 2017 Preseason schedule tonight against the New York Giants. After a six month hiatus, Steelers Nation will rejoice at finally being able to watch the Black and Gold on the gridiron again!
- But expect the excitement to fade fast.
As soon as Joshua Dobbs throws his first pick six and/or after the 5th commercial break during the 1st quarter, the traditional complaints about the ills of preseason football will litter social media from now until the Steelers kickoff the regular season a month from now.
You know them by rote, and very well may utter them yourself:
- Preseason football is worse then watching paint dry…
- Owners rip off fans by force them pay full price for preseason…
- NOTHING’s worse than watching jobbers stumble through preseason 3rd and 4th quarters…
- The NFL should cut down preseason by half….
If you’re a Steelers season ticket holder, which let’s admit is a privileged minority in Steelers Nation, who is forced to pay full price for preseason tickets, then you’ve got a legitimate gripe. But if you fall outside that sphere, then it is time to accept a simple reality:
- Preseason football is vital to the game.
If you need proof, then look no further than Jordan Dangerfield. Jordan Dangerfield is of course one of the Steelers 2017 exclusive rights free agents, who got his first shot at the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 2013 as an undrafted rookie free agent. Dangerfield failed to make the cut with the Bills, and signed a “futures” contract with the Steelers in January of 2014.
Jordan Dangerfield and Tyler Matakevich close in on Brandon Tate. Photo Credit: Getty Images via Palm Beach post
The Steelers cut Jordan Dangerfield in 2014 and 2015, but brought him back each time to the practice squad. It took Jordan Dangerfield until 2016 to prove to Mike Tomlin, Keith Butler and Carnell Lake that he deserved a spot on the Steelers 53 man roster.
And even then, when you saw Jordan Dangerfield getting the nod over Shamarko Thomas as the Steelers, facing injuries at safety and heading into their game with Philly you probably asked, “Who?”
And that’s a problem.
- Go back to the summers of 2014, 2015 and even, to a lesser extent, 2016 and do Google searches for “Jordan Dangerfield.” You won’t find much.
Steel City Insider’s Jim Wexell wrote a glowing report of Dangerfield’s work in training camp on at the end of July, 2014. Neal Coolong, then at BTSC, wrote a nice “content aggregation” piece on Dangerfield offering his own unique spin as only Neal could. Curt Popjoy, then on the Bleacher Report, wrote something about Dangerfield’s chances of making the team.
There’s scant mention of him during 2015, save for one Bleacher Report stub on a fumble he forced in the Steelers 2015 preseason loss to the Bills. Dangerfield did get more attention last summer, as Penn Live’s Jacob Klingler wrote a really nice profile in the lead up to the Steelers preseason win over the Saints.
During that time, Jordan Dangerfield presumptively played in 13 Steelers preseason games. Yet these Google searches, (which admittedly can be imperfect) reveal only a handful of mentions.
- There’s something wrong with this picture.
Jordan Dangerfield remains a roster bubble baby. He’ll have to prove himself this summer to get a helmet in the fall. But any guy who gets pulled of the NFL scrap heap and works his way up to being “the next man up” behind Sean Davis and Mike Mitchell in the Steelers safety rotation has come a long way.
- And while his work in practice helped, his preseason performance undoubtedly is what convinced coaches to keep him around.
Dale Lolley is right to point out, is he did when writing about Pitt tight end Scott Orndoff’s training camp ending injury that for every Willie Parker and James Harrison there are hundreds of undrafted rookie free agent whose NFL dreams are demolished every July and August.
Willie Parker stood out in the Steelers 2004 preseason an a year later was starting in Super Bowl XL. Photo Credit: Steelers.com
But those dreaded 3rd and 4th quarters of NFL preseason games give the Donnie Shells, Dwight Stones, Darren Perrys, Yancey Thigpens, Lee Flowers, Chris Hokes, Isaac Redmans and yes, Jordan Dangerfields their shot at NFL glory.
So during the 2nd halves of the Steelers 2017 preseason games, instead of grousing about Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant not playing, or griping about Le’Veon Bell’s hold out, why not sit back, relax, and that diamond in the rough who flying below the radar in pursuit of his NFL dream.
Does the quality of NFL preseason, particularly late in games, pale in comparison to the regular season? Certainly. But why not stop complaining and why not enjoy the fact that preseason gives most fans their only chance to see and evaluate rookies for themselves, without the filter of a beat writer and/or the team’s PR organ.
An who know? You might just earn bragging rights by uncovering the next Jordan Dangerfield.
