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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
After three weeks of dorm life at St. Vincent College, the Pittsburgh Steelers broke camp in Latrobe, PA on Friday. A season ago, all eyes were on the quarterbacks as Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph vied for the starting job in the first year post-Ben Roethlisberger.
This year, all eyes were still on the quarterback as Pickett entered his first camp as the entrenched starter. Not only did we learn Pickett appears primed to make the signature second-year jump, we also saw a continued emergence of his top offensive weapon, depth at key positions and a team that avoided a major camp fight.
With the rest of the AFC North generating significant buzz, the Steelers flew under the radar for most of the offseason and training camp — and that’s just how they like it.
While you might’ve been distracted by shiny things like Joe Burrow‘s injury, Lamar Jackson‘s new wide receivers and Deshaun Watson‘s interceptions, here’s what was going on in Latrobe — and what it means as the Steelers enter the final phase of the preseason.
Sophomore surge for Pickett and Pickens?
A year ago, the Steelers’ first-round pick arrived in Latrobe as the third-string quarterback, taking the majority of his training camp reps behind Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.
This year, though, Pickett entered — and exited — camp in the same position: QB1.
Throughout the Steelers’ three-week stay at Saint Vincent College, Pickett practiced with the maturity and composure of a savvy veteran, throwing only a handful of interceptions in 11-on-11 periods.
“I just like the way he’s communicating with people,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “I like the way he comes every day ready to compete. He’s not overanalyzing the big picture too much. He’s just trying to play his role in the creation of a great day and being there. I think other people, by virtue of his position, get their vibe off of that and his ability to remain singularly focused and hyper competitive is an asset to our unit and to our team.”
Early in his first training camp, Pickett looked jittery in the pocket and unsure in his decisions. But with 12 games as a starting quarterback and three game-winning, fourth-quarter drives under his belt, Pickett returned to Latrobe as the unquestioned leader of an offense that looks capable of scoring more than the paltry 18.1 points it averaged last year.
“I think we could be really good,” coordinator Matt Canada said of his offense. “We’re going to keep quietly moving forward and doing one thing at a time, but consistently getting better. We did all the things we did last year in that (first preseason) game, but it looked, with our ones — It was clean, it was good, it was sharp, our execution was better. And that’s the same thing we’ve been talking about for a long time. I’m really excited about where we’re at.”
Pickett isn’t the only member of the offense showing the early signs of a second-year jump. Wide receiver George Pickens was a one-man highlight reel in individual and team periods. While Pickett showed obvious chemistry with top receivers Diontae Johnson and Allen Robinson II, he seemingly put an extra emphasis on building a rapport with Pickens — beginning with the first play of the first team period when he attempted a 20-yard pass to Pickens down the sideline. Then, in the first preseason game, Pickett found Pickens for a 33-yard touchdown to put an exclamation point on his lone offensive series.
But for as many positives as training camp produced for the duo, one thing to monitor is Pickens’ attitude. He argued with officials several times after his touchdown catches were negated for going out of the back of the end zone during the play. Another time, he caught a pass over a diving James Pierre in one-on-ones, and as he ran into the end zone, he pointed at Pierre as he lay on the field. Such displays might be fun in practice, but will earn a taunting penalty in a game.
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Legitimate LB depth
The addition of former Cardinals outside linebacker Markus Golden late in free agency appeared to be the Steelers’ answer to finding a necessary third quality player at the position. But through training camp, another newcomer proved the position has even more depth. Fourth-round pick Nick Herbig turned heads in Latrobe, solidifying a solid camp with 1.5 sacks in the first preseason game. Smaller than Highsmith and Watt at 6-foot-2, 228 pounds, Herbig uses his size as an advantage with an effective euro-step-like move.
“He’s got a cool little jump through move that I’ve been trying to learn, almost like a little stab and jump through,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “So he’s got a good arsenal for him coming in as a rookie showing me he’s watched a lot of T.J. [Watt]’s film from being from Wisconsin. He’s definitely come in and learned a lot.”
Not only does the outside linebacker group appear to have quality depth — something that was noticeably absent last season when Watt missed nearly half the season with a torn pectoral muscle — but the inside linebacker group also added a third thumper by signing Kwon Alexander early in camp to join a completely remade room. Since his arrival in Latrobe, Alexander has been as good as advertised. He’s been a key component of the run defense and had several big hits in the first preseason game.
“I think my favorite part about Kwon is his preparation,” new inside linebackers coach Aaron Curry said. “I love his process of how he gets ready for practice, how he gets ready for games. He’s a pro’s pro, so it’s been really cool to watch him prepare himself for battle.”
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Moore holding off first-rounder
Despite trading up in the first round to nab Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones, the Steelers left Latrobe with veteran Dan Moore Jr. still taking the bulk of the first-team reps. Moore worked with the first team in the Steelers’ first preseason game, while Jones led the offense with 49 snaps. It’s not that Jones has had a bad camp, it’s that Moore has shown improvement from a season ago.
“Me and Dan don’t even look at it as a battle,” Jones said. “We just look at it as trying to get better each and every day. Between me and him, he helps me with things. I tell him the little things I see. Even though he has more experience than me, he always takes what I have to say into consideration. That’s what I like about him, just overall. He’s a good guy.”
It’s hard to get a good measure of the offensive line in a training camp setting, so there could still be movement in the starting group after the preseason games. But after three weeks in Latrobe, Moore appears poised to be the Week 1 starter.
The rest of the starting offensive line around Moore — Chukwuma Okorafor, Isaac Seumalo, Mason Cole and James Daniels — is entrenched, and unlike last training camp, they spent the bulk of practices in Latrobe working together as a complete unit. Behind the starters, the Steelers have tough decisions to make in roster cutdown with apparent quality depth in players like Nate Herbig, Kevin Dotson, rookie Spencer Anderson and Kendrick Green. Though the team experimented with Green as a fullback in short-yardage situations throughout camp, that quality depth gives the former third-round pick and one-time starting center an uphill battle to make the roster — especially because Anderson showcased his versatility by taking snaps across the line, including some at center, late in training camp.
“The more things you can do in anything in life, probably the better you are,” offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. “You’ve got to be a master at something, but I think Spencer’s a guy that has some versatility of what he can do, different spots, physicality and movement and those things. This gives him more opportunities to play, and obviously everybody’s goal at this point as a player is to find a way to get on the roster, and I think he’s doing all he can to show his versatility and viability to be one of those guys.”
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Good vibes only
The Steelers didn’t have any camp fights. Not a single one. Even with a rookie offensive lineman, Cameron Heyward didn’t pick on any of the young linemen — something that’s become somewhat of a yearly tradition for the veteran defensive lineman. It’s cheesy, sure, but the feeling around camp at St. Vincent was a different one.
“We appreciate tough guys, but this is not an MMA team that we’re putting together,” Tomlin said. “Fights don’t help us win football games, and so we’ve been talking very black and white in that manner and I appreciate the guys’ willingness to make that posture or that position real by adhering to it.”
But don’t mistake a lack of intrasquad scuffles for a lack of intensity and physicality. In two of the final three practices, the Steelers’ “seven shots” drill — seven reps of offense against defense from the 2-yard-line — were tied going into the final rep. Each time that happened, Tomlin subbed the first team offense and defense back on for the drill-defining final rep. In both cases, the offense won.
“Man, they’re cheating us all the time, but it’s all good,” safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said with a smile. “Coach T, he’ll make it interesting, but it’s fun. I love starting practice like that. Win or lose, it’s great competition. It’s varsity on varsity football, and it gives you a good gauge of where you’re at when you’re going against A++ players on the opposite side of the ball.”
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Secondary in flux
It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine in Latrobe — although the Steelers did avoid bad weather with only one torrential downpour during practice. On the field, though, there were a deluge of injuries in the secondary throughout camp. Not only did seventh-rounder Cory Trice Jr. sustain a season-ending knee injury during the first padded practice, but almost every member of the secondary missed practice time. Fitzpatrick had a week-long excused absence to handle a personal matter, and beyond that, safeties Damontae Kazee, Keanu Neal and Tre Norwood along with cornerback Joey Porter Jr. all missed at least one practice dealing with an injury. The good news is that when the Steelers finished their final practice in Latrobe on Thursday, all four participated in some capacity. Norwood won’t play in the second preseason game, Tomlin said, but the others are expected to be on the field against Buffalo.
Though most have returned to full participation, there’s still ground to make up in the secondary’s on-field communication — especially following the departures of cornerbacks Cameron Sutton and Arthur Maulet and safety Terrell Edmunds.
“I think a lot of the chemistry is built off the field,” said cornerback Levi Wallace, downplaying the time missed by his teammates because of those injuries. “We still hang out… I think that’s more chemistry than on the field. But when you get those guys back on the field and that communication starts up, that’s just icing on the cake. It’s good that a lot of guys are coming back thus far and the regular season’s still a long way. We still have a lot of time to continue to build on that.”
Two things to keep an eye on throughout the final two preseason games is the development of the three safety package with Neal, and the way the Steelers utilize veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson. Porter doesn’t have a clear path to a starting corner job, but don’t be surprised if he still ends up playing a significant number of snaps opposite Wallace with Peterson sliding into the slot.
“There’s not too many guys, at least since I’ve been here, that have just been static,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think my first year or two when I was still learning, the system was pretty static, but after me and [Edmunds] and Cam and all those guys started getting more reps together, we started becoming moving pieces, moving chess pieces, interchangeable chess pieces, which is rare in the secondary. I think Pat just brings another layer to it obviously has his experience, which adds on top of his versatility, so it makes him easy to move around.”
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