James Conner has big debut for Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers knew they were getting a beloved local player in James Conner, but he’s proving to be more than just a great story…

The story of James Conner is pretty unbelievable up to this point. Not only has Conner beat the odds of beating cancer, he’s also proving he might be a pretty darn good NFL back with all he’s been through.

The former ACC offensive player of the year was a third round pick of the Steelers after showing himself healthy this past season, even if he didn’t put up ridiculous numbers like he did as a sophomore back in 2014.

Conner is built like a linebacker at 6-foot-1, 233 pounds, and while he doesn’t have blazing straight-line speed, he’s got vision and a nose for the end zone.

Even at his size, Conner is capable of making big plays. He made a few in his preseason debut for the Steelers:

Conner’s debut wasn’t perfect, however.

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He had an opportunity at even more total yards when he broke into the flat with no one around him, and Joshua Dobbs tried to hit him on a quick pass but Conner couldn’t hold it in.

It was a typical case of running before you secure the catch. Not unforgivable…

Catching passes was something of a concern with Conner’s game going into his final season at Pitt. He hadn’t really done much even in the year he was featured in their offense. This past season, those issues were somewhat squashed as Conner caught 21 passes, four for touchdowns. He averaged over 14 yards per reception, to boot.

Conner did have a second drop later in the game, but showed off his ability as a featured back, picking up a linebacker blitz in pass protection and obviously showing his explosiveness on a couple of big chunk running plays.

On the whole, this was a nice debut for Conner. He wasn’t perfect, by any means, but to rack up over 100 yards of total offense in your first NFL appearance — preseason or not — is great to see.