There was a time, albeit before most of these guys were born, when attending an NFL rookie minicamp was a bargaining chip, a matter of some contention between agents and teams. But since the NFL adopted a system that tied free agency to a salary cap, the league and its players association have settled the issue to the degree where now it's more about the players who are permitted to attend a rookie minicamp.
Based on the current guidelines, the only eligible players are rookies and first-year players.
As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a rookie is any player who never has signed an NFL player contract, or who only has signed an NFL practice squad player contract. A first-year is one who has signed an NFL player contract but who does not yet have a season of pension credit. To receive a pension credit a player must spend three games on the active or inactive list, on injured reserve, or on PUP during the regular season or the postseason.
Based on those stipulations, the Steelers will have 41 players on hand for their 2013 Rookie Minicamp, a weekend's worth of meetings and on-field drills at their practice facility on Pittsburgh's South Side. Two of those 41 will be quarterbacks, with No. 4 pick Landry Jones figuring to attract most of the attention there.
The number of players breaks down into nine first-year guys and 32 rookies. The rookies are comprised of nine draft picks, 15 undrafted rookies, and eight more who will be in for the weekend on a tryout basis.
The nine first-year players are G Justin Cheadle, T Joe Long, NT Loni Fangupo, CB Isaiah Green, TE Jamie McCoy, OLB Marshall McFadden, WRs Kashif Moore and Derek Moye, and PK Daniel Hrapmann.
The eight players in for a weekend tryout include Purdue QB Caleb Terbush, West Virginia RB Ryan Clarke, West Virginia LB Terence Garvin, Pitt CB Jared Holley, Youngstown State TE Will Shaw, Virginia Tech DT Antoine Hopkins, UTEP S DeShawm Grayson, and Pitt S Andrew Taglianetti.
A complete rookie minicamp roster appears below:
| NO | NAME | POS | EXP | COLLEGE |
| 2 | Daniel Hrapmann | K | 1 | Southern Mississippi |
| 3 | Landry Jones | QB | R | Oklahoma |
| 8 |
Caleb Terbush | QB | R | Purdue |
| 10 | Markus Wheaton | WR | R | Oregon State |
| 13 | Reggie Dunn | WR | R | Utah |
| 15 | Derek Moye | WR | 1 | Penn State |
| 17 | Justin Brown | WR | R | Oklahoma |
| 17 | J.D. Woods | WR | R | West Virginia |
| 19 | Kashif Moore | WR | 1 | Connecticut |
| 26-D | Jared Holley | CB | R | Pittsburgh |
| 26-O | Le'Veon Bell | RB | R | Michigan State |
| 29 | Shamarko Thomas | S | R | Syracuse |
| 30 | Terry Hawthorne | CB | R | Illinois |
| 38 | Andrew Taglianetti | S | R | Pittsburgh |
| 39-D | Isaiah Green | CB | 1 | Fresno State |
| 39-O | Curtis McNeal | RB | F | USC |
| 40 | Marshall McFadden | LB | 1 | South Carolina State |
| 44 | Vince Williams | LB | R | Florida State |
| 45-D | Alan Baxter | LB | R | Northern Illinois |
| 45-O | Will Shaw | TE | R | Youngstown State |
| 46-D | DeShawn Grayson | S | R | UTEP |
| 48 | Luke Ingram | LS | R | Hawaii |
| 49-D | Terence Garvin | LB | R | West Virginia |
| 49-O | Ryan Clarke | RB | R | West Virginia |
| 51 | Ivory Wade | C | R | Baylor |
| 61-O | Nik Embernate | G | R | San Diego State |
| 67-D | Cordian Hagans | DE | R | LA-Lafayette |
| 67-O | Mike Golic, Jr. | OT | R | Notre Dame |
| 69-D | Brian Arnfelt | DE | R | Northwestern |
| 69-O | Joe Madsen | C | R | West Virginia |
| 71-D | Omar Hunter | DT | R | Florida |
| 71-O | Mike Farrell | OT | R | Penn State |
| 72-D | Justin Cheadle | G | 1 | California |
| 72-0 | Anthony Rashad White | DT | R | Michigan State |
| 74 | Chris Hubbard | G | R | UAB |
| 79-D | Antoine Hopkins | DT | R | Virginia Tech |
| 79-O | Joe Long | OT | 1 | Wayne State (MI) |
| 82 | Jamie McCoy | TE | 1 | Texas A&M |
| 91 | Nicholas Williams | DE | R | Samford |
| 92 | Hebron Fangupo | DT | 1 | Brigham Young |
| 95 | Jarvis Jones | LB | R | Georgia |
