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Adam Thielen said Bryce Young appears “more comfortable” this offseason than he did in 2023.

Advice: “It’s been awesome. Not only him, just a lot of the young guys, a lot of the staff. It’s just been a great offseason to just see some of these guys who haven’t been in the league very long — just the way that they’ve ,” Thielen said on the Rich Eisen Show. “You can tell, Bryce’s demeanor in the building — he’s just more comfortable, right? And you don’t realize it when you start getting to be a veteran guy, just because you forget about those times.” Offseason reports on Young have been unfailingly positive after he was among the worst quarterbacks in the NFL during his 2023 rookie season, in which he had the second worst adjusted EPA per drop back. A more competent Young could lead to solid seasons for short-area pass catchers like Thielen and Diontae Johnson in 2024. Rotoworld Friday, 9:30 am

George Kittle said he lost around 30 pounds after undergoing core muscle surgery this offseason.

Advice: Kittle in a podcast appearance said he was well below his 250-pound playing weight following his surgery. He sustained the core injury around midseason last year and played through it during the Niners’ Super Bowl run. “I couldn’t lift,” Kittle said. “I couldn’t do any upper body because of my shoulder and my rib, and I couldn’t do lower [body] because of my core surgery. … I didn’t lift from the Super Bowl until like almost mid-March. ... I went a month without doing anything, I wasn’t supposed to do anything.” Kittle, 30, plans to work this summer to gain back the weight he lost ahead of his eighth pro season. Last year, Kittle was tenth among tight ends in receptions (65) and first in receiving yards (1,023). Rotoworld Wednesday, 12:50 pm

The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly said, “If there is one receiver besides George Pickens who has a chance to have a big role in [the Steelers’] offense, it’s Calvin Austin.”

Advice: After redshirting in his 2022 rookie campaign, Austin caught 17 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown for the Steelers last season. The speedy fourth-round pick “continued to get better from the first day to the last” throughout the offseason, per Kaboly, and will have a chance to compete for a starting job on a wide receiver depth chart that is wide open after Pickens. Austin earned five-plus targets in three of his first four games to start last season, but was targeted just nine times in his final 13 games — a brutal footnote on his sophomore season. Even if he earns a “big role” in 2024, expectations should be tempered in an Arthur Smith/Russell Wilson led attack. Rotoworld Jun 17, 5:17 am