NFL training camp 2023: Steelers and Saints WRs, Bills DE among veterans who need to have strong performances

These players could use a flashy summer to get back on track

How are you celebrating the start of NFL training camp? One way I like to is by attempting to determine which veterans need a strong camp to either boost their reputation, beat out a hungry rookie, or, maybe, just earn a much-needed bag next offseason. 

This list wasn't easy to formulate, because frankly this is the NFL, where about 75% of the league needs to prove itself on a yearly basis. So, there really is an excess of players who could use an impressive camp. I've meticulously narrowed down the list to five veterans.  

OG Connor McGovern (Jets)

McGovern inked a one-year, $1.9 million deal with Gang Green to stay with the team in 2023 after a strong 2022. Because of his experience, McGovern's penciled into the starting center role again. There's an elephant in the room, though. The Jets spent an early second-round pick on Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann. In most cases, top 50 selections play out of the gate in the NFL. 

Tippmann was a two-year, full-time starter for the Badgers and exudes quickness after snapping the football. He's equally as sturdy protecting interior disruptors as he is paving paths for the run game. McGovern has to prove last season wasn't a fluke, showing that his point-of-attack power and knowledge of protections against a variety of pre-snap looks from complex NFL defenses make him the best option at center for the start of Aaron Rodgers' tenure with the Jets. 

DE A.J. Epenesa (Bills)

The 2020 second-round pick has had his moments early in his Western New York career. Has he ever met classic second-round expectations? Not for a prolonged period. Epenesa hasn't had multiple pressures in more than two-straight games leading into his fourth season. The former Iowa stud has hardly reached double digits in pressure-generation rate (10.1%) in three years. 

Buffalo has done nothing but send messages to push Epenesa since he was drafted. In 2021, sizable edge rusher Boogie Basham was picked in Round 2 -- and frankly, he could be featured in this article, too. Von Miller is the team's alpha rusher, and veteran Leonard Floyd was signed in early June. Epenesa, now in a contract year, needs a big 2023, which starts with a buzz-creating camp, in the worst way. For himself, his future, and the depth of the Bills pass rush. If he flops at St. John Fisher University, he could get traded, or, yes, even cut.

RB Chris Evans (Bengals)

Evans is a talented cat. At the Michigan Pro Day in 2021, Evans' vertical, broad jump, and three cone were all above the 81st percentile at the running back position. To date in Cincinnati, he's been near the kaboose in a logjam at running back behind Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine. Now Perine resides in Denver, so there's an opening for Evans in one of the most dynamic offenses in football. 

Evans is such a fascinating enigma. After rousing freshman and sophomore seasons at Michigan, during which he averaged 5.82 yards per tote on just over 200 carries, he had academic issues and only carried the ball 97 times in his final two seasons for the Wolverines. Entering the 2023 campaign, Evans has 17 NFL carries and 18 receptions to his name in the regular season.

He needs a strong camp to fend off veteran Trayveon Williams and, particularly, 2023 fifth-round selection Chase Brown, who too is a fine athlete with explosive tendencies when carrying the football. The soon-to-be 26-year-old Evans is entering his contract year.  

WR Allen Robinson (Steelers)

Robinson was the marquee offensive signing for the Rams a year ago. Then he, much like the entire 2023 Rams season, fell flat. Emphatically flat. 

While losing Matthew Stafford didn't help, Robinson set career lows in catches (33) and receiving yards (339) last season, and he turns 30 in August. Because the Steelers traded for Robinson in March, he's unlikely to be cut if his downward spiral continues. However, count on the receiver competition in Latrobe to be fierce. The Steelers will get back 2022 fourth-round pick Calvin Austin III, a twitchy burner, still have athletic freak Miles Boykin, and are taking a flier on XFL standout and former early Day 3 selection Hakeem Butler. 

Those candidates are all vying for the No. 3 wideout role behind George Pickens and Diontae Johnson. With a mediocre summer, Robinson may be fourth or fifth in line for targets in Year 2 of the Kenny Pickett era. 

WR Michael Thomas (Saints)

Let's start here with a refresher on how little we've seen Thomas since he set the NFL single-season catch record (149) back in 2020 with Drew Brees. The former second-round pick played in seven games the next year before battling through what was a lingering ankle injury. He then missed the entire 2021 campaign and played in three contests in 2022 before another injury shelved him for the remainer of the season. 

That's 10 out of a possible 50 most recent regular-season contests. Goodness. And, now, he's 30. On paper, it's a fresh start for the now healthy Thomas with new quarterback Derek Carr under center. He needs a strong camp, not because he's in danger of being cut but because 2022 first-round pick Chris Olave is on the verge of cementing himself as the Saints' undisputed WR1, and New Orleans signed Carr's former teammate Bryan Edwards this offseason. Plus former undrafted free agent Rashid Shaheed flashed with a 17.4 yards-per-grab average on 28 receptions as a rookie. Without an "I'm Back" type declaration in camp, Thomas may suddenly be in a place unimaginable for him even two years ago -- near the bottom of the Saints' target pecking order.