Saunders: 90 Thoughts on 90 Players from Steelers OTAs and Minicamp (+)

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped their spring practice session on Thursday, with the final day of their three-day mandatory minicamp.

Minicamp is not a time for player evaluations from a coaching perceptive, as head coach Mike Tomlin has made clear over and over again. He’s not going to compare what people do during “football in shorts” to the real deal in training camp.

But that doesn’t mean that a lot can’t be learned from the four weeks of work this spring at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. So who has impressed, stood out, or been used in ways that drew a raised eyebrow this spring? And who has underwhelmed, disappointed or straight up not been around?

Here’s 90 thoughts on 90 players from Steelers rookie camp, OTAs and minicamp:

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields at OTAs on June 4, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

QB Russell Wilson

The first thing you notice about Russell Wilson is that he’s way shorter in person than he looks on TV (especially standing next to Justin Fields like above). The second thing you notice is that it doesn’t seem to impact his play nearly as much as it looks like it should.

Wilson still has a good amount of his athleticism for a 35-year-old. He still has his patented moonshot deep ball. He can still fire fastballs when he needs to. He’s also still going to struggle finding guys over the middle at times and will probably take a lot of sacks.

It’s easy to see why Tomlin wanted him to have “pole position” for the offseason starting job. A consummate professional, Wilson still has infectious energy and positivity. He has guided what could have been a very complicated install seamlessly. He’s also gained easy comfortability with the team’s wide receiver corps.