With a 0-4 record changes can come, and that happened on Tuesday with two new starters emerging for the Steelers for this Sunday's game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Cam Heyward has been inserted as the starter at defensive end over Ziggy Hood, while Kelvin Beachum is now listed as the starter at left tackle and Mike Adams, who has struggled so far, is listed as third team.
Heyward has been one of the steady forces on defense, ranked second on the team with nine quarterback pressures, behind only Brett Keisel who has 13. Heyward also has two pass defenses and six tackles.
"He will play more and deservedly so," said Tomlin of Heyward. "He has played really solid. Not taking anything away from Ziggy, both guys will continue to play. We just want Cam to play more than he has been playing and in order to to insure that we are going to put him in the starting lineup."
Tomlin said Hood will still be worked into the rotation, he just won't be seeing the same number of snaps that he did when in the starting lineup.
"All of those guys are going to play like they have," said Tomlin. "We just wanted to redistribute the snaps to make sure Cam is getting more than he has to this point and that is why we made the change."
Beachum worked at left tackle in practice on Monday along with Levi Brown, a player Tomlin referred to as a "critical acquisition." Beachum is slated as the starter, but Brown is also going to get a close look this week in practice to see how he can contribute.
"He is still working to establish a role, still working to make him familiar with our football," said Tomlin of Brown, acquired last week via a trade with the Arizona Cardinals. "We just had one day of on the field work. His presence is needed and valued. He is a battle tested guy.
"We'll continue to look at those two as we prepare and push forward toward the weekend."
