{"id":706042,"date":"2026-05-31T09:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/706042\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T09:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:45:22","slug":"steelers-rookie-ol-gennings-dunker-details-his-biggest-adjustment-to-nfl-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/706042\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Rookie OL Gennings Dunker Details His Biggest Adjustment To NFL Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>He\u2019s already moving from offensive tackle to guard, but that\u2019s not Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Gennings Dunker\u2019s toughest transition to the NFL game so far.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with reporters during OTAs earlier in the week, Dunker detailed the one challenge adjusting to the NFL game, and it\u2019s a common one: speed of the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese guys are a lot faster than college linebackers,\u201d Dunker said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sbeb8W6gLQM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to video via the team\u2019s YouTube page.<\/a> \u201cThey\u2019re pretty quick, so maybe taking a little bit different angles \u2019cause they\u2019re definitely a lot better athletes than me. So, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Playing on the interior at the next level is much different from playing tackle at the collegiate level, especially in Big Ten football. Dunker was very solid at Iowa, putting himself at one point in the first-round conversation before lasting until the third round at No. 96 overall, where the Steelers traded up to land him.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he enters minicamp trying to get his feet underneath him after moving to guard, and he has to do so while dealing with the change in speed from defenders.<\/p>\n<p>While <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/05\/gennings-dunker-already-most-physically-imposing-lineman-on-steelers-roster-defabo-says\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he has great size, length<\/a> and plays with an impressive amount of strength, foot speed, taking the proper angles and locking in on his attention to details will be key for him.<\/p>\n<p>He is a smart player, one who was on a pre-med track early at Iowa, so he\u2019ll make the adjustment. But two weeks into OTAs and just ahead of minicamp, he\u2019s getting his eyes opened to the speed and the pace of the NFL game. He\u2019ll have to go through another adjustment in training camp and the preseason, too, as the intensity ratchets up.<\/p>\n<p>But he\u2019s in a good spot at the moment, identifying <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/05\/gennings-dunker-gonna-have-some-issues-early-while-transitioning-to-guard-says-lance-zierlein\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">what he needs to do to improve<\/a>. That\u2019s a good place to start for the rookie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s already moving from offensive tackle to guard, but that\u2019s not Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Gennings Dunker\u2019s toughest transition&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,258271,593,1241,85],"class_list":["post-706042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gennings-dunker","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}