With rookie minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex wrapping up this weekend, it offered the Steelers a chance to get their eyes not only on their 2025 draft class, but a number of other players, as well, who are hoping to make an impression.
But the three-day camp goes well beyond that. It's also an opportunity for the coaching staff to begin building the foundation of what's expected from the group moving forward.
In that regard, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin deemed the camp a success.
"We got some on-field work and development of skill relative to the positions that they play," Tomlin said Saturday. "But it's also just an introduction to the organization. We had a rookie dinner last night. We gave them a tour of the Steelers (Hall of Honor) Museum at the stadium, for example. So there's an education going on on a lot of fronts, and it's fun to get to know the guys and how they learn their talents, how their body works, how they take in information, how to communicate.
"Obviously we're at ground zero, but it's a great opportunity to get better on days like today, and they've been really engaged. And so the process has been fun."
One of the players for which that process is even more demanding is rookie quarterback Will Howard, a sixth-round draft pick out of Ohio State. Howard and fellow rookie Seth Morgan, a player here on a tryout basis from New Hampshire, are the only two quarterbacks in attendance at this session.
While the other offensive and defensive players only have to hear play calls once, quarterbacks not only have to hear the play call coming in, they then have to repeat it to the group – correctly.
It's a big step in taking classroom work to the field.
"Huddle, command and communication, the ability to regurgitate new information," Tomlin said of what he was looking for from Howard in this setting. "And by new information, I mean information that's new to them. I don't want to underscore how difficult it is to receive some of the verbiage from a play caller and have to regurgitate it to 10 others that are waiting for it. And so, you know, some elementary things, but important things nonetheless, the giving and receiving of information is a central component of leadership at that position."
Of the 45 players who are in attendance at this camp, just seven are 2025 draft picks, defensive lineman Derrick Harmon, running back Kaleb Johnson, linebacker Jack Sawyer, defensive lineman Yahya Black, Howard, linebacker Carson Bruener and cornerback Donte Kent.
There also are five veteran players - defensive linemen Domenique Davis and Jacob Slade, guard Steven Jones, tackle Doug Nester and defensive back Cameron McCutcheon - who are here after being signed by the team to futures contracts. The others are all undrafted rookies or tryout players trying to find a way onto the roster.
But there's something in their game that stands out.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast Pittonline@iheartmedia.com
The Steelers have had success over the years finding some undrafted players in these kind of environments that have stood out.
Tomlin said there's an art to not only finding those players, but the players maximizing their talents to showcase them.
"Usually an element of their game that's varsity, meaning, if you go undrafted, there's components to your game certainly that needs work," Tomlin said. "But those that make it usually have an element of their game that's ready, and they find ways to lean on that and minimize some of the things, or work on some of the things that aren't. That's probably the common bond, based on my experience of all the undrafted that come through the other side, they usually have a trait, and that trait shows up rather consistently."
Rookie minicamp will wrap up Sunday. The Steelers won't be back on the field as a group until the final phase of their OTA sessions begin Tuesday, May 27.
