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The Pittsburgh Steelers regular season is winding down, and while more important games lie ahead, this signifies the time of the year when the team announces their postseason awards.
The team voted on Antonio Brown as the Steelers 2017 MVP earlier this week, and today the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) voted on two awards for the Steelers.
The first was “The Chief” award, named after Art Rooney Sr. for cooperation with the media. The winner for this was guard David DeCastro.
Per the Steelers official website:
DeCastro is a player who is always available in the locker room, through the good and the bad, and gives well-thought out and insightful answers whenever he is approached by the media.
The other player who was honored was wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was named the “Joe Greene Great Performance Award” winner, named after “Mean” Joe Greene for the best rookie of the year. This year the award could have gone to either Smith-Schuster or T.J. Watt. The writers ended up with the offensive talent when all the votes were tallied.
Smith-Schuster has played in 13 games this season, starting six of them. He has 49 receptions for 774 yards and six touchdowns, which have come with the some of the NFL’s most imaginative touchdown celebrations.
He has proven to be a big-play threat for the offense, with a 97-yard touchdown reception against the Lions under his belt.
Congratulations to both David DeCastro and JuJu Smith-Schuster for being honored for their individual contributions to the Steelers both on, and off, the field throughout the 2017 regular season.