Last year Willie Colon and Max Starks battled for the right tackle job until the final week of the preseason. This year, Colon, Kendall Simmons and Chris Kemoeatu apparently don't have to fight for their jobs at all.Offensive line coach Larry Zierlein told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat that he thinks that with the exception of center, the rest of the offensive line starters have been settled.
"We're pretty well set," he said of the line.. "We'll see what happens with the center thing once we get into preseason, but I'd say we're pretty well set."That may seem a little cryptic, but the paper insists that Zierlein was saying the starters have been pretty well picked:
Zierlein was then asked if his comment that the Steelers were "pretty well set" meant that Colon would be the starter at right tackle.If it's true, it's crazy. It would mean the Steelers re-upped Max Starks for nearly $7 million with no plans of giving him a chance to earn a starting job--he's had less than a week in camp to show anything. And it means that Kemoeatu was given a starting job without doing anything--he's still on the physically unable to play list and has yet to take a snap in training camp.
"Willie's looking pretty good," Zierlein said. "Willie's pretty good in the run game. He just keeps working on his protections and he'll get better. He's a competitor."
We'll see if it's true, but while there's something to be said for continuity, there's also something to be said for having competition for spots, especially for players who didn't play that well last year.
Olympic athletes often don't get paid to do anything other than look good. In that vein, 
