As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for the upcoming season, the tone around the team is different from years past. There is a shared disappointment about the way last season came to a crashing end. There is a shared embarrassment about how two of the team’s best players left the team in the preceding months. As a result, the Steelers are looking to its veteran players to refocus the team. The team is looking for new guys to step up and take a more leading role. Some guys like Ben Roethlisberger, Ramon Foster, and Cameron Heyward are more vocal leaders. JuJu Smith-Schuster has an infectious personality that naturally draws many people to him. James Conner is a quiet leader, however.
James Conner Is the Pittsburgh Steelers Quiet Leader
Leading by Example
James Conner is a player that shows up to work to do his job. If there are other people or players see him as a leader than so be it. He said as much to Teresa Varley of the team’s website.
“It’s something that just happens,” said Conner. “I just go about my business, and when I can help someone I will. If that is a leader role, it is.”
Conner isn’t that much older or frankly that much more experienced than his teammates at his position. Conner is entering his third season in the NFL and is just 24 years old. Jaylen Samuels is 22 entering his second season. Rookie Benny Snell Jr. is only 21. That makes for a close group that can relate to one another fairly easily. Conner can show them what they need to do to earn the respect and trust of the coaches and the veteran players. As Conner states, “The first rule of getting better is showing up.”
Open to Competition
With two guys behind him on the depth chart, you could forgive James Conner for feeling pressure to perform. You would understand that he wouldn’t want to share too many touches to Samuels and Snell. However, that is not the case. Conner recognizes that in order to be successful, it takes a team effort. As Conner told Jacob Klinger of Penn Live,
“Those guys are talented. They can make plays. They can make some plays that I can’t make, so I’m all for it.”
Conner understands that nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. You constantly need to work to improve yourself and help others improve too. He is aware that Samuels and Snell will push him to be better. In turn, he can help them become better too. As a result, the Steelers will have a group working hard to be the best running back group in the NFL.
James Conner Has Unquestioned Strength and Courage
James Conner’s battle has been well documented. He successfully battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma after being diagnosed in December of 2015, then announcing he was cancer-free in May of 2016. It should not, however, be lost on how much that impacts the man he is today. Conner faced down cancer without fear and managed to play a full season of football in 2016 as a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. Despite injury setbacks that have occurred the past two seasons, Conner has been undeterred. Three years now cancer-free James Conner is an inspiration to his team, many in the league, and plenty of people outside of football. If there is anyone to keep teammates spirits high, it would certainly be Conner.
Last Word
James Conner is a quiet, hard-working leader for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He shows up and does his job, just trying to get better every day. Conner welcomes competition from guys who he knows deep down want to take his job. He sees that as an opportunity to improve himself and knows it makes the team better. Everything Conner does, he does with no fear. He stared cancer in the face and he beat it. Conner will be the first one in the corner of any teammate facing adversity. That’s who he is. He doesn’t need all eyes on him. But if the eyes are on him, he will step up and do his job.
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