James Conner hasn't played a full, 16-game season as a pro. In fact, Conner averages just 12 games per year in his three seasons with the Steelers, 75 percent of a full season.
Those numbers peaked as a rookie, when Conner was available for 14 games but played just six percent of the team's offensive snaps working behindLe'Veon Bell. He went down late in that season with a knee injury, getting shut down for the team's final two games.
Most recently, in 2019, Conner missed time throughout the season. It wasn't just one injury requiring surgery but rather nagging injuries to his shoulder, to his thigh that caused him to miss six games in all. As such, he followed up a Pro Bowl 2018 with disappointing metrics: 464 rushing yards, 251 receiving yards and seven total touchdowns.
All this has caused concern at a minimum and panic at a maximum within Steeler Nation.
Well, within most of Steeler Nation at least. Then there are fans likeClay Lumps, taking to Twitter to defend Conner's performance. You can read the full thread right here, but his point is this: Conner is a valuable piece of the Steelers offense, and the team will need his talents and his leadership moving forward.
Lumpsalso added that Conner's injury history might be directly traceable to his well-documented battle with cancer during his time at the University of Pittsburgh.
Conner readLumps' thoughts and wholeheartedly endorsed them:
While there's no guarantee Conner will piece together a full, 16-game season in 2020 his final year under contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2021 there's no doubt his will and his spirit remain unbreakable as ever.
To not only read comments on Twitter but to engage them seems potentially harmful on Conner's part (spoiler alert: some users aren't as nice as Mr. Lumps here) but he continuously uses the comments as fuel, keeping his mind in the right place and moving forward.
That's really all you can ask for. Now, Steelers fans will anxiously await Conner's chance to prove the results on the gridiron.
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James Conner fueled by Twitter comments: 'The best is yet to come' - DKPittsburghSports.com
