Firetrucks, lawsuits, holdouts oh my! Day one of training camp is in the books, and to no one's surpise there were plenty to talk about. Antonio Brown did not disappoint as he rolled into camp chauffeured in a $250,000 vehicle. No surprise from a player who's been reportedly working hard on his newly allowed end zone celebrations during the offseason. Not to be outdone, James Harrison arrived in a fire truck with sirens blaring. At least those two bothered to show up. Le'veon Bell was a no-show on day one, and isn't expected to arrive anytime soon. He's not considered "holding out" because technically Bell is not under contact, having refused to sign the franchise tag. So take that for what its worth. Martavis Bryant is at camp, but we learned yesterday that he is not allowed to practice until fully reinstated by the league from his drug suspension. When that might be is anyone's guess at this point. Whew is that all? Let me think…… Oh wait there's more. Right tackle Markus Gilbert is being sued for allegedly body slamming someone resulting in a broken leg and other injuries. There, I think I covered it all.
Is this all to do about nothing, or a sign of a major flaw within the team? Were the suspensions, Facebook live incident, and games missed for disciplinary reasons the reason the Steelers fell short last season, or just a byproduct of being part of the roughest sport in the world? One thing we know for sure is that the Steelers are concerned. The one common thread out of the 2017 draft is the selection of "high character" players. Players who seem to put football first. That will help solve the issue in the future, but what about the current group? Can Mike Tomlin reign this group of talented individuals in enough to take advantage of this Super Bowl window? It's going to be an uphill battle, and one that's already off to a bad start before the pads have even gone on. Let's hope day one of training camp isn't a sign of things to come in 2017.