Five Takeaways from the First Day of Steelers Minicamp
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers had their first practice of minicamp for the 2025 season on Tuesday.
Minicamp practices aren’t a lot different from the OTAs that preceded them. They’re still not in pads. There’s still not much in the way of physicality. The days are a bit longer, and they’re mandatory instead of voluntary, but the idea is the same: this is a time for teaching, not for evaluation.
Returning players are looking to develop expanded skillsets and new wrinkles to their game, while young players are looking to find a way to make a positive impression on the coaching staff.
So what did we learn from the first practice of minicamp?
No One Is Upset That T.J. Watt Isn’t Here
Watt is holding out, while he and the team continue to work on a new contract, but it has not at all been a contentious process. Watt has remained in close communication with his coaches and teammates, and everyone seems to understand that a deal is going to get done eventually.
The impact of Watt not being at these practices is basically non-existent. Returning veterans that are playing the same role they have in the past don’t do very much at these sessions. Watt could have easily done as much at home as Cam Heyward or Isaac Seumalo did at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Tuesday.
The Steelers have two young players at the outside linebacker position that they want to get looks at in Nick Herbig and Jack Sawyer, and two more on the roster bubble in DeMarvin Leal and Jeremiah Moon. The team would much rather those players get these reps than Watt, anyway.
Head coach Mike Tomlin was talking about Aaron Rodgers when he said, “Physical repetitions in June for a guy with 20 years’ experience is not that significant. It’s very significant for a guy with no snaps.”
But he could just as easily have been referencing Watt. Those reps just mean more to the young players behind him on the depth chart, and even if he were here, they’d probably be getting the lion’s share of them.
The Steelers are missing out on the ability of Sawyer and others to pick Watt’s brain and pick up things from the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year. But Watt not being there is also giving Alex Highsmith a shot to flex his leadership muscles a little bit.
“It’s cool,” he said. “It’s year six now. So I’m getting to be a vet now. I’ve always been a lead by example guy, now in year six, I’m staring to use my voice a lot more and starting to be a more vocal leader on this team, too.”
So the coaches get to evaluate the young players, the young players get their reps, Highsmith gets to be the leader — yeah, there isn’t a lot of downside for the Steelers to Watt skipping minicamp.
At some point, he’ll need to report so they can flesh out some plans to move him around the formation a bit more in 2025, and it’d be good for him to get used to running some games with new starting left defensive tackle Derrick Harmon, but that can all be very easily accomplished later in the calendar.
Cam Heyward Laughs at Aaron Rodgers Doom-and-Gloomers
The big story of the day on Tuesday was the Steelers debut of quarterback Rodgers. While Rodgers was meeting with the media for the first time, holding court in a crowded press scrum outside, I sacrifice the one question I might get there to go inside to talk to some of the Steelers vets about him.
The biggest complaint I’ve heard from those that decry the Rodgers signing is a belief that his unusual personality will cause issues in the Steelers locker room.
Cam Heyward chuckled at that question.
“I have no concerns about that,” he said. “People in this locker room only care about what goes on in this room.”
Heyward said that Rodgers addressed the team in a heartfelt speech before practice on Tuesday, and talked about coming to Pittsburgh with a singular purpose and being entirely bought into the team.
Rodgers will, of course, have to back those words up, but Rodgers seems to have won over almost all of the locker room early on.
The Matchup of the Summer
One of the biggest question marks on the team this year is the wide receiver position, where the Steelers acquired DK Metcalf, but lost George Pickens, and really didn’t do a lot else to bolster the position that was definitely their biggest weakness in 2024.
With Metcalf not attending OTAs, the need at receiver was even more stark, and for starting Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr., well, that meant OTAs were kind of a drag.
The third-year cornerback still has something to prove, after a penalty-filled 2024 season that certainly wasn’t bad, but admittedly fell short of his own high expectations in some ways.
But there wasn’t a lot to be gleaned from testing himself against the likes of Robert Woods, practice squad member Brandon Johnson or undrafted free agent Roc Taylor on the outside.
That all changed on Tuesday, with Metcalf reporting to minicamp. For the first time this offseason, practice was frequently punctuated by Porter’s familiar bark. The juices were flowing, and it’s clear that the matchup of the summer will be the Steelers rising young corner against the team’s top acquisition at receiver.
The two traded victories on Tuesday, with Metcalf drawing a pesky penalty early on in the practice session, but Porter bouncing back for a strong pass break-up that drew praise from defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
Porter said the matchup definitely got his competitive juices going for the start of minicamp.
“We’ve got history in my rookie year, so I’m always excited to go against good competition, so it was a good day,” Porter said. “Definitely brings some more juice to practice. He’s a great athlete, he’s a great wide receiver, he’s been in the league a long time.”
He’s also one of the rare receivers that Porter can’t dominate with his size. Standing at 6-foot-3 and listed at 229 pounds with a 40-inch vertical, he’s the biggest receiver that Porter has ever seen.
“Besides when I gotta go against [tight end] Darnell [Washington] when he’s outside, [Metcalf] is probably the biggest,” Porter said.
Leaning less on his physicality and trusting his technique more is something that new defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander wants to unlock from Porter, so that presents a great opportunity.
“It’s not necessarily getting aggressive beyond that combative stage within that 5 yards,” Alexander said. “Now it’s just time for just to trust his transition, trust his process, trust his coverage ability, and then obviously when he’s in a position to be able to defend the ball down the field, it’s getting his eyes up and challenging that and going for the ball instead of trying to think about how do I beat the receiver?”
Porter had plenty of great training camp battles with Pickens over the years, but Pickens is a lithe, elusive foe. He beat Porter with his slipperiness, while Porter had the advantage when they made contact. Metcalf is a beast. Even if he gets his hands on him, Porter isn’t going do much with the veteran receiver. He’s going to be forced to lean on his technique to consistently win that battle, and that’s a very good thing for the Steelers.
Look Out for Minkah Fitzpatrick
The Steelers are being mum about what changes they’re trying to make in order to get Minkah Fitzpatrick back to his splash play-making ways, but make it clear: they do have a plan.
“I think it’s a lot of things, but you know I’m not going to tell you the scheme stuff, right?” Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin joked. “We always go through this. We’re going to do what we think is best to get out guys in position to make play.”
But he did acknowledge that it’s been a priority.
“Absolutely, we’d love to,” Austin said. “That’s his calling card, and he hasn’t had as much success as we’d like the last couple years but the way it works, the way he works, the way he prepares those things will come. He’s just had a dry year or so.”
So far, so good. Fitzpatrick got his hands on the ball multiple times on Wednesday, as did backup Juan Thornhill, who said he had a tipped pass that led to one of Fitzpatrick’s interceptions and dropped another of his own.
Coming over from the Cleveland Browns to man the third safety slot vacated by Damontae Kazee — who replaced him in Cleveland — Thornhill sees a defensive scheme that is being set up for safeties to be able to make big plays.
“They are trying to find ways to make me go get the football,” Thornhill said. “As free safety, you want to go get that ball. When you have a front like we have here, you don’t have to cover long. Quarterbacks get nervous and start throwing that ball up. It’s going to let me make a lot of plays.”
Not Just a Nose Tackle
Yahya Black is a gigantic human being, but the 336-pound rookie defensive lineman out of Iowa isn’t being pigeonholed as a nose tackle by Steelers defensive line coach Karl Dunbar.
For starters, Black never played the nose in a 4-3 scheme in college, and as he’s making his transition to the NFL, the Steelers are starting him out as the five-technique (usually 4i these days) defensive end in their base defense.
That’s a bit of a surprise, but it shows that the Steelers have faith in Black’s ability to be more than just a nose tackle, which will be important to him earning much playing time early on his career.
The Steelers don’t play a lot of base defense anymore, and Keeanu Benton is going to dominate those reps between Harmon and Cam Heyward. Being the backup nose tackle isn’t a path to much playing time for Black, so he’ll have to excel as a three- and five-technique to find ways onto the field.
“I see him as a defensive lineman,” Dunbar said. “I think he’s going to play everything. He’s training right now at 4i-technique, but he’ll line up on the center and line up on the guard.”
With Black lined up outside, veteran Daniel Ekuale has emerged as a potential option as a second-team nose. According to Pro Football Focus, he had just 21 snaps over the A-gap last season, but the Steelers have had success in moving veteran linemen inboard over the years, from Tyson Alualu in recent memory all the way back to Kimo von Oelhoffen.