LATROBE, Pa. – The weather delayed the debut of the 2025 Steelers in full pads at Saint Vincent College, and if Coach Mike Tomlin was disappointed in getting washed out by a deluge on Tuesday afternoon he likely was pleased by the tropical conditions presented to his team during Wednesday's do-over.
"Really good day's work today," said Tomlin. "Thankfully the weather cooperated with us. A lot of competition periods and some tackling – it's just a major component of this development individually and collectively. We'll take a look at the tape of practice and learn and continue to push forward."
While the conditions were dry throughout, the National Weather Service website listed the heat index in Latrobe at 101-degrees.
7-Shots
In the full pads version of 7-Shots, it's not uncommon for there to be a lot of running plays, and that was the case on Wednesday.
On the first play, the offense came out in a 3-TE set with DK Metcalf as the only WR and Jaylen Warren in the backfield. After some shifting, Aaron Rodgers handed the ball to Warren who plunged through the middle for a touchdown.
On the second play, Rodgers attempted a slant pass off play-action, but DeShon Elliott batted the ball at the line of scrimmage.
On the third snap, Rodgers flashed some mobility to create a throwing lane for himself, and once that was accomplished he got the ball to Jonnu Smith for a touchdown.
Mason Rudolph was next up at quarterback, and on his first play he threw a slant to WR Brandon Johnson for a touchdown, and the offense had a 3-1 lead.
On the next play, Rudolph pitched the ball to RB Kaleb Johnson who was stopped short of the goal line. Will Howard then came in at quarterback, and he handed the ball to Evan Hull who was stacked up in the middle of the line of scrimmage.
On the seventh and decisive snap, the first units were put back onto the field. After play-action, Rodgers threw a nice pass to the back corner of the end zone and Metcalf secured the catch and got his feet down inbounds for the touchdown. The offense had a 4-3 win.
Backs-On-Backers
Maybe the most anticipated drill during the first day of practice in pads, Mike Tomlin long has used this as a tone-setter once camp becomes more physical.
The defense has a significant advantage in this drill because the pass-rusher gets a running start and the blockers are not permitted to cut the guys coming after the "quarterback." But that doesn't lessen the entertainment value, and the offense knows the advantage will shift to its side when the version of the drill flips to having a linebacker trying to cover a running back or a tight end all over the field with no pressure on the passer.
Tomlin arranges all of the matchups, and the first three involved veterans – Pat Freiermuth vs. Alex Highsmith, Jaylen Warren vs. Patrick Queen, and Darnell Washington vs. T.J. Watt. Then the drill was turned over to the younger players and the new players so the coaches could get a chance at evaluating them for the first time with hitting involved.
Among those who acquitted themselves well were ILB Malik Harrison, ILB Mark Robinson, and ILB Payton Wilson. TE Darnell Washington was typically difficult to move, even for T.J. Watt, and Warren again showed a willingness and some proficiency in putting his body between the pass-rusher and the quarterback.
"People who have physicality is an asset to their game," said Tomlin. "It needs to show up and show up consistently."
Team Run
The Steelers are maybe the only NFL team to have a period of live tackling in every padded practice at training camp, and that continued on Wednesday. It usually takes the offense a bit longer to display the timing and cohesion necessary to run the football successfully, and the outcome of the plays in this period reflected that.
One of the defense's standouts was Joey Porker Jr., who came up fast on the first play and dropped Jaylen Warren for a loss on a run to the perimeter. A couple of snaps later, Porter and Derrick Harmon combined on a tackle that stopped Kaleb Johnson for no gain. Mark Robinson showed up well during this period as well, once stuffing RB Evan Hull in the backfield and generally making a nuisance of himself by shooting gaps an d getting into the backfield to disrupt plays before they had a chance to develop.
When asked about Porter's performance in this drill, Tomlin said, "You know, it's just a one-day sample, and so for me, it's about putting good consecutive days together and displaying consistency. He certainly had a good day today."
Observations
• The much anticipated debut of RB Kalen Johnson in backs-on-backers showed that the rookie has some improvements to make in his pass protection for it to be considered NFL level. Johnson had a tough time matching the physicality of ILB Malik Harrison on three successive repetitions early in the drill.
• During an 11-on-11 pass-under-pressure period later in the afternoon, Zach Frazier's shotgun snap to Aaron Rodgers was low and sabotaged the play. Frazier was replaced by Ryan McCollum for one play, and then he returned for the rest of the snaps with the first-team offense.
• While backs-on-backers was taking place, there was a drill matching WRs vs. DBs in one-on-one coverage. With Rodgers at quarterback, DK Metcalf got behind Joey Porter Jr. and the ball was delivered perfectly for a big gain.
• LT Broderick Jones was in uniform, but he did not participate in the day's team drills. "He worked partially today, working individual drills and on the side," said Tomlin, "and so he's moving back to full participation."
• One of the interesting matchups during the OL vs. DL one-on-one period had second-year RT Troy Fautanu vs. T.J. Watt. "I thought (Fautanu) represented himself well today," said Tomlin. "He really gets an opportunity to improve and improve fast because of who he gets to work against every day."
TOMLIN'S INJURY UPDATE
"Had one injury, maybe, to speak of. 'O' (DE Esezi Otomewo) went down. His knee is being evaluated. The rest is just bumps and bruises associated with play, maybe a few heat related things, nothing that that should be long term with anyone else."
