The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a lot of pieces this offseason, but running back James Conner is confident they'll bounce back in 2019. Conner broke out last year and established himself as a top running back, so he obviously doesn't feel like the team will miss Le'Veon Bell too much.

Antonio Brown is also gone, and while it's a huge loss on paper, a lot of Steelers players have suggested it could be an addition-by-subtraction situation. The Steelers are now free from all the drama that's engulfed them recently, and can focus on playing football again. Conner acknowledged that people are down on them, and said the team is using it as motivation.

“Not guaranteeing nothing but I think we have a great chance of going all the way,” Conner said in a recent interview, per NFL.com's Kevin Petra. “That's what we play for, that's why we show up every day, that's the ultimate goal, is to get a ring. I know that's a lot of people don't think that we can do it, with the pieces that we lost, and just counting us out. We don't mind it, though. We know that they're counting us out, but that's why I said we're going to shock them because I don't think they expect us to do what we're about to do this year.”

There's been some speculation that Conner's role could be reduced in 2019, with the Steelers looking to get second-year player Jaylen Samuels and rookie Benny Snell more involved on offense. That being said, Conner isn't anticipating too much of a change.

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“I'll have a similar role. I'm healthy, first and foremost, I'm 100 percent healthy now. We'll cross that bridge when we get there,” Conner said. “But we got talent in that room. We got Jaylen Samuels who's a tremendous receiver, a talented runner. We got Benny Snell. We know the work that he did at Kentucky. He's a hard-bodied runner, so all those guys will get touches. It'll be fun this year just seeing those other guys being successful.”

Conner was banged up last year, as ankle issues hampered him. Whether he's a workhorse or not, Pittsburgh will be counting on him this season, and it's good to see he's feeling good.