"With COVID everything kind of got shut down, and the gyms around me got shut down," he said. "I was in communications with Seattle, they couldn't get me out there, get my physical. It was the one time I had finally seen some money and I wasn't going to risk losing all of that money and that opportunity by training and getting hurt away from the (team) facility. What goes along with that is you show up to camp overweight and out of shape and I got beat out, there's no way around it.
"When it comes to the mid-season trade, they needed a pass rusher and they needed to free some cap space and Cincinnati wanted offensive linemen so they traded me. Got there to Cincinnati, they got guys back that they liked, that they were comfortable with back from injury and they didn't need me. So they just kind of put me on the shelf and at the end of the season I had a hernia, so I had to have that repaired. The rest is history, they released me in March and here I am.
"I'm getting better now. Now that I'm here training at the (Steelers') facility my weight's coming down, I'm feeling good, feeling like my old self and moving better."
Finney has returned to a team that finished last in the NFL in rushing last season and one that's determined to run the ball much better in the season ahead.
"That's the talk, not just in our (offensive line) room but across the whole building and across the whole NFL," Finney said. "Everybody's like, 'What is the Steelers' run game gonna look like?'
"We know we have to come out with an edge. We have to be nasty about it. We have to re-assert that run game and get back to what Pittsburgh is known for. We take pride in it, we're hungry, we know we have something to prove and we have a chip on our shoulder."
One thing Finney and the rest of the Steelers' offensive linemen will have to do without this season is the daily presence and influence of former player and broadcaster Tunch Ilkin.
June 04, 2021 at 01:52AM
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Returning with a purpose - Steelers.com - Steelers.com
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