Former WVU star, ‘consummate pro’ Wendell Smallwood an add to Steelers’ RB room
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Five years ago, he was in a starring role a couple hours from Pittsburgh down I-79. In 2017, he contributed to a Super Bowl-winning team based a few hours east on I-76. After spending last year about four hours southeast on I-70, Wendell Smallwood is plying his trade in Pittsburgh.
Over his first two weeks as part of the Steelers, the former West Virginia star has already made a positive impression on his position coach.
“He is a pro,” Steelers running backs coach Eddie Faulkner said during a video call with media Wednesday. “He comes into work every day, he is smart. He understands the urgency that is involved in not only learning it, but how he practices it.
“He is just a consummate professional. It is not any surprise that he has had the record he has had in the NFL.”
Smallwood has accumulated 1,784 all-purpose yards in 52 NFL games over four seasons, the first three with the Philadelphia Eagles before spending 2019 with the then-Washington Redskins.
The 5-foot-10, 208-pound Smallwood gained 1,238 yards on 258 touches from scrimmage — plus a kick return touchdown — for the Eagles in 2016-18 after being a fifth-round pick in 2016. Smallwood had a Big 12-leading 1,519 rushing yards, 26 catches and nine touchdowns for West Virginia in 2015.
Smallwood, 26, could add a dimension to the Steelers’ offense as a pass-catching option out of the backfield, particularly if he proves he can win the job returning kickoffs.
It won’t be easy, though, to stand out in a crowded running backs room that includes players taken in the middle rounds of the past four drafts (James Conner, Jaylen Samuels, Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland) in addition to late-2019 season sparkplug Kerrith Whyte and special-teams ace Trey Edmunds.
“I am just trying to see what everybody can do,” Faulkner said, “…where they have improved, maybe where some deficiencies may be, then we can look at our team (roster decisions). “
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