It was a somber mood on a gloomy day that was eventually cut short due to the weather conditions and the team will continue to mourn while trying to move forward in a football sense.
With that, the guys asked Ray about two position battles in camp and the preseason and how he thinks things will turn out.
First: Ulysses Gilbert v. Tyler Matakevich at inside linebacker.
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"If you remember last year, they kept nine linebackers and kept five inside linebackers. So they could potentially keep Gilbert and "Dirty Red" (Matakevich) on the roster. So, I don't know if it's going to be a battle of who makes it but if they keep nine backers again I think Gilbert has a great shot to make this team.
It was interesting, Tomlin sort of poo-poo'ed his effort yesterday, he said a lot of that came late in the game, it was against 3rd and 4th teamers. He said this week he's going to want to see Gilbert maybe against some better competition. We'll see how he does but I thought just like Devin Bush, his speed was evident and you could really see why they wanted to get faster at inside linebacker."
The second: Ryan Switzer v. Eli Rogers at wide receiver.
"They kept six receivers last year, if they keep six again Eli's probably going to be the sixth guy. But I don't think that's a slam dunk. You saw Johnny Holton play really well on special teams, made a couple of plays on offense, too. Darrius Heyward-Bey was kept on this roster for his ability on special teams and I don't know if Eli Rogers provides the same type of impact on special teams. That's one that's hard to handicap for me. I know they've liked Eli over the years, he's a good route runner, he's got a good relationship with Ben. Now that Switzer is here, I just don't know if they need two of the same types of players on the roster."