Mar 15, 2016 4 min read

In with Ryan Harris, out with Kelvin Beachum and likely Steve McLendon.

That constitutes a bad day for the Steelers.

Harris was brought in to compete with Alejandro Villanueva for the starting left tackle position. He’s not Beachum. Heck, he might not even be as good as Villanueva, but he did start 13 regular season and three playoff games at left tackle for Denver last season.

He also has experience starting on the right side – more so than on the left – and would be a better fit as the swing tackle, though Villanueva also has worked on both sides.

Beachum leaving and Harris entering the scene does make things interesting. Villanueva played OK last season at left tackle, not great, but not terrible.

But if Beachum had chosen to re-sign with the Steelers, he would have been the starter and Villanueva the swing tackle.

That should left tackle an interesting training camp battle to watch.

The Steelers also had reportedly made an offer to Seattle’s Russell Okung over the weekend, but he balked at the deal.

If it was similar to the two-year, $3.9-million offer that Harris accepted, it’s easy to see why. The Steelers have been consistent bargain shoppers in this offseason, with the exception of the signing of tight end Ladarius Green.

• The potential loss of McLendon is a big deal.

Backup Daniel McCullers played just over 9 percent of the defensive snaps in 2015, compared to 35 percent for McLendon.

McCullers has shown flashes of ability but very little consistency. He could be dominant if he played hard every snap. But that just hasn’t happened.

The loss of McLendon would make taking a defensive tackle in the first three rounds of the draft a necessity. And given that the defensive line is considered the strength of this draft, would Steelers Nation go nuts if, for example, the Steelers took Alabama’s Jarran Reid in the first round, passing on a cornerback or safety?

Reed, like teammate A’Shawn Robinson, has the ability to be a disruptive force at nose tackle and could even play some end – though his pass rushing needs work.

Or, even though you know you might need an immediate starter, do you wait until Round 2 and grabd Baylor’s Andrew Billings or Penn State’s Austin Johnson?

The free agent nose tackles have been picked over pretty well – no pun intended.

Terrance Knighton is probably the best guy still available – based on past performance – but he didn’t exactly light things up in Washington in 2015 playing on a one-year deal.

• Le’Veon Bell spoke Tuesday on an NFL Media podcast with Michael Robinson and Nate Burleson and stuck up for teammate Martavis Bryant.

“If he could be perfect, he would,” Bell said. “He can’t be perfect. I can’t be perfect – nobody can.

“I was just in a similar situation obviously when I got suspended. When the news first hits and it’s on ESPN and Twitter and everything, it hurts, especially when you know it’s about to come out. … People are going to tell you they hate you and all of these negative things, but you have to understand that you’re human. You’re a human being.” Bell, as he said, has a little more insight into this than most. He’s been in Bryant’s shoes after serving a two-game suspension to open the 2015 season.

Even without Bryant, Bell feels the Steelers can be special on offense.

“We have guys, we have depth and I think the fact tht we have all of that depth and we have players everywhere, I think our offense is going to be just as dynamic,” Bell said. “Obviously, Martavis would make it a lot easier but we still have that next-man-up (mentality) and that’s the kind of things we’ve been doing.”