The comments coming out of Pittsburgh after Kevan Barlow's first day of minicamp make it sound like he has just as much chance to be the third-down back as he does to serve as the power back compliment to Willie Parker. Mike Tomlin mentioned his understanding of blitz pickup in his first comments on the new Steeler."I like Kevan Barlow," said Tomlin. "I've competed against him several times since he's been in the league. He has feature back capabilities, he can run down-hill on people, he has caught quite a few passes. He came up in this league having a respect for blitz pickup, having been taught by Garrison Hearst and Tom Rathman. Of course, he's a Pittsburgh native and loves the Steelers. He's been bounced around by the profession a little bit of late. He needs an opportunity, a fresh start, and he expressed an interest in being part of us. We have an interest in him. I'm looking forward to seeing how that sorts out on the practice field."The Post-Gazette connects the dots, pointing out that Barlow is a solid blocker in blitz pickup and that he averaged 33 catches a season during his final three years in San Francisco. The question is whether he's fast enough to make teams worry about him as a receiver. He averaged less than eight yards a catch in each of his last three seasons and only two of his last 68 catches have gone for more than 20 yards. Najeh Davenport, the Steelers third-down back for most of 2006, averaged 12.9 yards a catch with two pass plays of more than 20 yards in 15 catches last season.
What's funny is that the team's best third-down pack is Willie Parker--Parker has the speed to make teams worry whenever he's thrown a screen pass, and he can make linebackers sweat if he takes off on a swing pass or a fly pattern, but since he's so valuable on first and second down, the Steelers want to keep him from taking the pounding of blitz pickup, even if his receiving numbers have been very solid.
