When Jerald Hawkins and Jake McGee went down with injuries during the Steelers' OTA session Wednesday, you'd excuse Keion Adams if he stopped for a moment to make sure all his body parts were sound.
After all, it was last year at training camp Adams found himself in a similar position as Hawkins and McGee — injured and likely done for the season.
Stay healthy. They're dirty words to football players. But critical in the process of making a roster.
Adams' injury occurred a little later in the process — he made it through a week of training camp practices before getting hurt — but the end result was the same. He didn't get an opportunity to play football.
Now back from the shoulder injury that wrecked his 2017 season, eventually requiring surgery, Adams is eager to make up for lost time. And the Steelers are eager to see him perform, as well, to the point Kevin Colbert mentioned Adams without being prodded in the moments following this year's draft.
"When we look at the outside linebacker, Keion Adams was a kid we took last year in the seventh round. He had a real early start in the training camp and we were real excited about where he was going to be able to go, but unfortunately, he had a shoulder injury that required surgery and he didn’t get to play," Colbert said. "But you always had him in the bank. And we know, he’s really another seventh-round pick in our eyes for this season. So we’ll see where he goes."
With a year under his belt — even if it wasn't spent on the field — Adams feels he's in a much better position to make that a positive direction.
And for the Steelers' sake, he'd better be. The team felt strongly enough about him that it didn't add anyone at outside linebacker — either in free agency or the draft — despite needing to replace both Arthur Moats and James Harrison.
Even with the obvious opening behind starters T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree, Adams isn't taking anything for granted, especially after missing all of last season. He and Anthony Chickillo have been working as the second-team outside linebackers. But the roles haven't been as defined as in previous years.
While Watt and Dupree have switched sides on defense, with Dupree going to the right side of the defense and Watt to the left, Chickillo and Adams have flipped play-to-play, giving them the opportunity to learn to play on both sides.
"We both play outside linebacker and we'll both probably do the same job, so we want to be interchangeable and be able to go from one side to the other," Adams told me. "The offense won't expect it. And with us both being able to do it, we want to get comfortable with the little things that go with it."
If Adams showed anything in his short stint when he was healthy last season it's that he's comfortable making transitions. A defensive end at Western Michigan, he was a four-year contributor who led the team with 7.5 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss as a senior. The tackles for a loss were also the best in the MAC.
That's what made last season so difficult for him. He'd never had to sit and watch before.
"It was definitely tough having to sit out and not having a big injury in my entire career. It was hard," he told me. "The competitor in me wanted to come out here and play. It wasn't in my control because of my injury. I just had to learn from it and become a student of the game."
That's one way in which his year wasn't wasted. While he certainly might have benefitted by being on the 53-man roster or even the practice squad, because he was on injured reserve, Adams spent the season around the team, learning and watching film with his fellow linebackers.
That's something that allowed him to hit the ground running this year. The whole process also helped him learn some important life lessons.
"Not to take anything for granted," he told me. "Learn how to study from the older guys, as far as how to watch film, not simply rewind it and fast forward, as far as techniques. I wasn't at my best as far as strength-wise. I needed to learn what to do and become technically sound. And I learned to take care of my body, because you only have one. And that's how you go out there and make a living, so there's that."
Now at a more chiseled 6-2, 245 pounds — up from the 230 pounds at which he played at Western Michigan — he feels he's not only more ready mentally to compete, but physically, as well. Not that he ever doubted his physical prowess.
But the mental edge gained is palpable.
"Yeah, from that aspect, I didn't get to play last year, so I'm kind of like a rookie in that regard, so to speak. But it did help me in terms of me learning the defense, me coming out here and not being a deer in headlights," Adams told me. "Everything's not moving as fast for me. It's slowing down. Now, I just work on my technique and try to stay healthy."
Stay healthy. There are those two dirty words again.
Some guys don't get the opportunity to come back for a second chance. Those who do know they have to make the most of it.
Count Adams in that latter group.
"It did suck," Adams said of his injury last year. "I wanted to go out there, but at the same time, I knew I wasn't physically able to. I just prepared for next year. Now is the time."
