Aug 6, 2013 4 min read

LATROBE – Usually, the release of a depth chart is about as interesting as watching a glacier melt.

But when the Steelers released their first official depth chart Tuesday in advance of Saturday’s preseason opener at Heinz Field against the New York Giants, it had one major change from the pre-training camp version.

Listed as the starting left tackle was Mike Adams, while Marcus Gilbert was shifted from the left to right side previously occupied by Adams.

That had been the way the team had spent the past few days practicing here at Saint Vincent College. But Gilbert had spent the first week of camp working at left tackle.

“We are looking for the very best combination of people, and that might even include within groups,” said head coach Mike Tomlin when the move was made last Friday. “You know, both guys are left tackle capable. Both guys were left tackles in college. We just want to provide an opportunity for those guys to show what they are capable of and define the very best combination.”

Apparently, Adams, a second-year pro out of Ohio State, looked good enough to get the first opportunity protecting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s blind side against the Giants.

Adams, the Steelers’ rookie of the year in 2012 despite making just six starts at right tackle before an ankle injury ended his season, hopes his foray into playing left tackle goes better than his initial game there last preseason.

Adams lined up at left tackle against the Philadelphia Eagles and gave up a sack on his first series and a sack that caused a fumble on the second before leaving with a leg injury.

But he settled in at right tackle after Gilbert suffered a season-ending ankle injury. He played well enough that the Steelers felt comfortable allowing veteran left tackle Max Starks to leave as a free agent and hand the job over to one of their two young offensive tackles.

Both Adams and Gilbert have expressed a desire to be the starting left tackle – a position both played in college – but Adams might be the better fit, if only because he’s a natural left-hander.

“It’s just the footwork is opposite. That’s the only difference,” said Adams of playing on one side rather than the other.

“I like it. It is what it is. I’ll just keep going out and doing what I need to do.”

The left tackle with a right-handed quarterback such as Roethlisberger is facing an opponent’s top pass rusher as well.

“It’s a bigger responsibility,” said Gilbert, who started 13 games at right tackle as a rookie in 2011 and five there in 2012 before his injury. “But anywhere on the line (the job) is to keep No. 7 clean. That’s the biggest thing, the most important thing to me.”

The man at the left tackle spot is Adams, at least for now. But a poor game against the Giants could change that quickly.

“The only person who knows that is ‘coach T,’ ” said Adams, who has shown no ill-effects from being stabbed in a botched robbery attempt in June on Pittsburgh’s South Side. “I don’t ask questions. I just do what they want.

“I just kind of look at it all as one unit. Wherever they need us, that’s where we play. I try to be as low maintenance as possible.”

The Steelers will return to practice today at 3 p.m. The session is open to the public. … Nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu, activated from the PUP list Monday, is listed as the third-team nose tackle behind Steve McLendon and Hebron Fangupo.