LATROBE, Pa. – It's not like the Steelers formulated their offseason plan back in January with Saint Vincent College in mind, but now that they're back on campus they're happy to take advantage of what having their training camp here can offer.
The Steelers players reported before the 4 p.m. deadline on Wednesday, and as Coach Mike Tomlin said, "Everyone is present and accounted for." On Thursday, the work begins for everyone except Isaac Seumalo, who was placed on the Active/NFI (Non-Football Injury) List with what was described by Tomlin as a soft-tissue injury.
The group that will take the field includes a number of new faces, including Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, Brandin Echols, Kenneth Gainwell, DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith, Juan Thornhill, and Robert Woods, as well as the typical complement of draft picks and other rookies.
"It's good to see this collection of talent that we've been able to assemble even into the summer," said Tomlin. "We continue to work on the talent acquisition component of this team development. But now, the vast majority of that is over. And now it's about developing individual and collective football skills, division of labor roles, technical expertise."
What makes this version different is that a number of the new players arrive with established NFL resumes, with MVP trophies and All-Pro recognition, with experiences outside of this franchise, with little knowledge of how the Steelers want to do business, with personalities and maybe even egos that are going to have to mesh with the personalities and egos already in place if the 2025 season is to turn out the way everyone wants it to turn out.
"This team-development process is development in a lot of ways: as individuals from a knowledge perspective, from a technical development perspective, but it's also as a collective," said Tomlin. "And that collective growth has a lot to do with teamwork and gaining an understanding of the things that we value here culturally and things of that nature. And so, that applies to all new people regardless of what their resumes might read. I think it's one of the benefits of coming to a destination camp, and we do so very intentionally because it gives us an opportunity to capture that which we cannot measure but we know is significant in terms of team-building. That's the intangible component of team, that mutual respect, that understanding, that knowledge beyond surface level things. We get an opportunity to work at that in an environment like this just as we do the tangible things."
Among the tangible things will be integrating three veteran cornerbacks into a group that already has another cornerback – third-year pro Joey Porter Jr. – as part of a secondary that will be without Minkah Fitzpatrick, a three-time first-team All-Pro free safety after coming to the team in 2019.
Tomlin remembered Ramsey as being the team's No. 1 cornerback and the No. 1 safety on their board leading up to the 2016 NFL Draft, and he was asked where Ramsey might start in the 2025 version of the Steelers secondary.
"We're going to start him regardless," said Tomlin with a laugh. "Where we move him around and things really depends on what offenses are doing. Make no mistake, those top three corners – Jalen Ramsey, Slay, and Joey Porter Jr. – they're going be on the field, and I don't care what (personnel grouping) offenses come out in. They're coverage people. Describe them however you wish to describe them. They're capable of covering eligibles and minimizing the time and the successfulness of offensive passing games."
The other part of the return in the trade that sent Fitzpatrick to the Dolphins was Jonnu Smith, listed as a tight end but similar to Ramsey in that his value isn't necessarily defined by the position listed opposite his name on the depth chart. As Tomlin describes it, "a football player first and a positional player second."
"Forget how you describe him – a Y, an H, a Z, or what have you," said Tomlin. "The bottom line is he's a dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. He's a matchup issue. I think he led the tight end group in the NFL last year in terms of yards after catch. He had 800-plus yards and eight touchdowns, and so that's an eligible who's capable of making some splash plays for us and doing it in a variety of ways, who has first-hand experience with our offensive play-caller. And so we're really excited about that."
And none of that touches on the addition of Rodgers and how he and his skill-set are to be assimilated into the group.
"He's a workaholic. I don't have a whole lot of reservations about that," said Tomlin. "I think he's hardened himself over the course of his career with his attitude toward work. Certainly, I'm gonna limit him (in practices) in some instances, but when I do it's gonna be more about elevating opportunities for guys like Will Howard and less about preserving him, to be quite honest with you.
"I'm really excited just to look at the group and see it display their physical conditioning, their readiness in that area. Now we embark upon this journey that will be our 2025 season."
