At Clemson, Martavis Bryant spent his 2013 season as the “other” receiver in an offense that featured Sammy Watkins in the No. 1 spot.
He could spend 2014 playing a similar role across from Antonio Brown. The Steelers didn’t select Bryant until the fourth round, but the mixture of his talent, size and the state of the Steelers’ receiving corps puts him in the discussion to become the rare Steeler to start from day one as a rookie.
“I’m not going to say that he is going to start, but potentially he could,” wide receivers coach Richard Mann said, via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We feel like we got a guy to put opposite of Antonio Brown.”
At 6-4 with great speed, Bryant gives the Steelers something they don’t currently have in their receiving corps and Mann said the team was “hunting” for the kind of bigger receiving threat they haven’t had in the offense since Plaxico Burress left for the Giants. Bouchette reports that Ben Roethlisberger was “said to be thrilled” by the addition of a player who stands at about the same height as he does and that size could earn Bryant a long look for a big role in 2014.