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After rookie season on IR, Keion Adams gets 2nd shot at 1st impression as Steelers pass rusher | TribLIVE.com
Steelers/NFL

After rookie season on IR, Keion Adams gets 2nd shot at 1st impression as Steelers pass rusher

Chris Adamski
Chris Adamski
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Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
Steelers linebacker Keion Adams provides coverage during practice Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017 at St. Vincent College.
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Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree goes through drills during mini camp Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
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Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
The Steelers' Bud Dupree pressures Texans quarterback T.J. Yates in the fourth quarter Monday, Dec. 25, 2017, at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Drafted 13 months ago and having gone through almost four months of NFL team practice sessions, Keion Adams is no longer a rookie. Not by league rules, and not by experience level.

But as the "first-year" (NFL jargon for players such as Adams) player took to the practice field at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Tuesday, Adams admitted he felt the nerves.

"Jitters were going everywhere," the outside linebacker said after the Steelers' first 2018 organized team activity Tuesday. "But once I got in there and I started seeing things, I got more calm and I got more confident as the day went on."

Adams on Tuesday was taking part in a team practice session for the first time since August, when he suffered a shoulder injury during training camp that would ultimately require surgery.

Though the 6-foot-2, 245-pound Adams said it was difficult to go through at the time, he's now able to take the tough break and turn it into a positive. A redshirt year, if you will, gave him a level of comfort with the NFL culture, with his teammates, with the defensive scheme and with the workout techniques necessary for success at this level.

"It's not anymore where I am going in like a deer in the headlights; I know what I have to do, I know more about the plays," Adams said. "So I am more confident as far knowing the system and things like that. So now it's just about going back out there and getting my body in shape and just putting everything together."

Adams on Tuesday repeatedly remarked that the Steelers had high expectations for his rookie season before the injury. And general manager Kevin Colbert said after this past draft last month that part of the reason they Steelers didn't feel a need to draft an outside linebacker was because Adams would almost serve as a bonus pick in 2018.

In actuality, Adams was a 2017 seventh-round pick out of Western Michigan after he had 7 ½ sacks and earned second-team Mid-American Conference honors for the conference champions the prior fall.

In a twist of fate, just maybe, the shoulder injury will be one of the best things to happen to Adams. In 2017, his path to a roster spot was blurry because he was buried behind four proven veteran edge rushers and a first round pick at his position in T.J. Watt.

Since then, James Harrison and Arthur Moats have moved on, and after starters Bud Dupree and Watt and top backup Anthony Chickillo, there are jobs to be had. If Adams is healthy – and on Tuesday he said he "definitely, everything is 100 percent" – then he's considered the favorite to serve as no worse than the No. 4 edge rusher on the team.

"That really doesn't matter to me; all I can do is come out here and compete, and if things go well, everything is just going to take care itself," Adams said. "Even with the guys being out here, I know what I can do – and the coaches have confidence in me as well, so I am just going to go out here and do what I can do regardless of who is here and who is not here."

Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.