- According to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, may not report to Steelers training camp. Villanueva, who is an ex-Army Ranger Captain, said, “after taking orders my whole life, now I’m working with a really good agent, and I’ll do whatever he tells me to do.” Villanueva is set to earn just $615,000 under the terms of his ERFA tender, but is looking to work out a long-term deal.
- Villanueva played 1275 of the Steelers 1276 snaps in 2016, and ended the season with a PFF overall grade of 79.3, ranking 30th of 77 qualifying offensive tackles.
- He started the season poorly, and didn’t register a grade above 70.0 until week 6 of the season. However, he finished strong. From week 14 until the conference championship, he didn’t allow a single sack or hit, and his grade only dipped below 70.0 once.
- Villanueva showed vast improvement in pass protection down the stretch, and from week 14 until the conference championship he earned a pass blocking efficiency (the PFF metric that measures pressure allowed on per snap basis with weighting towards sacks) of 97.2, which ranked fifth of 34 tackles in the league.
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