In his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, former Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden ingrained himself as a huge a piece of the puzzle defensively in the secondary. However, he has continued to deal with injuries over the last couple of years that haven't allowed for him to train in the offseason properly.
Haden had undergone groin surgery in January 2017, and this past year he spent the offseason recovering from a concussion that kept him off the field for all but five games in the 2015 campaign. However, the 29-year-old appears to finally have a strong bill of health heading into this summer that he believes will give him the opportunity to train more intensely in a fashion that he hasn't done before in NFL career, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
“My groin’s good. My knee’s good. I’m feeling healthy,” Haden said. “I was able to get a full offseason workout. My last two offseasons I haven’t been able to train like I wanted to. This year, I got after training like I never have before.”
Haden is set to enter the second year of his three-year, $27 million deal with the Steelers that he signed last August after being cut by the Cleveland Browns after seven seasons. The reasoning behind the release from the Browns appeared to be injury related as he has struggled to get past nagging issues that prevented him from maintaining his Pro Bowl level of play.
Since his arrival to the Steelers, the team has maintained a strong sense of confidence in his ability on the field to return to that form while being a primary piece in their secondary. Haden did once again suffer yet another injury with a broken leg that cost him five games in the regular season, but he proved to be a stable force in the secondary upon his return.
With a full offseason without any physical limitation, the two-time Pro Bowler could be loading up to re-establish himself as one of the premier cornerbacks in the league in 2018.
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