Saunders: Steelers OTA Attendance Doesn’t Matter, Unless It Does
PITTSBURGH — Attendance at OTAs doesn’t matter, unless it’s meant to matter. For the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025, there’s pretty much only one player who could matter.
Several top Steelers veterans were not in attendance for the first day of always-optional OTAs at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Tuesday, including free-agent wide receiver acquisition DK Metcalf. Aaron Rodgers, who has not signed with the Steelers, is also missing the start of OTAs.
Their absence won’t harm their ability to be productive players for the Steelers (or in the case of Rodgers, possibly for someone else) this season.
Just ask Steelers captain Cam Heyward. Heyward, who sat out of OTAs last year amid a contract dispute, said veteran players not being at OTAs doesn’t bother him.
“I don’t care,” he said. “[Rodgers] might be sitting on a helmet for the rest of the time. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Sometimes, we put so much stock into the offseason, where we get caught up into thinking it’s everything. Yes, it can help. Yes, guys can get better. But who’s to say that you can’t get better outside of here. I hate to point to it, but last year, I missed all of OTAs. It didn’t really help me. Any player, I think you know what you need. You know what’s required of you as you progress toward training camp.”
Heyward played one of the best seasons of his career after skipping OTAs last year. Between personal trainers, individual position coaches, strength coaches and nutritionists, it’s never been easier for players to be prepared for the season on their own, as opposed to within the team concept at OTAs.
So why is Heyward in attendance this year?
“I wanted to get out here,” he said. “I’ll get back to the offseason work I’ve been doing and training, but it’s fun to mix it up a little bit.”
Heyward, of course, is a veteran that has been here longer than most of his coaches. There’s only so much he can glean from the OTA process. A new-to-the-team player like Metcalf or Rodgers might learn more.
“It’s very important to be able to spend time together, talk about base stuff of the offense so when we hit training camp, we can talk about further fundamentals and details,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said about his attendance. “It’s very important to be here, work together with the guys, get to know them, and get on the same page.”
There are other ways to accomplish those things. Freiermuth said Metcalf had been participating in the earlier phases of the team’s offseason program and has been in constant communication with the rest of the offense.
“DK’s been great,” Freiermuth said. “Me and him communicate a lot. He’s been here the past couple weeks and stuff so it’s been good to kind of work with him. It’s been.”
Metcalf also worked privately with Rodgers over the spring. Would things be better for the entire Steelers offense if Rodgers is the eventual quarterback and he was at OTAs? Probably. But not overwhelmingly. The entire NFL skipped OTAs in 2020 and nobody really seemed to notice. The impact for veterans is just not that large.
But there is one scenario in which an OTA absence might lead to more than that, and it’s the reason that Heyward wasn’t in attendance last year. He skipped OTAs while working on a new contract with the Steelers. Heyward eventually backed down from that stance, reporting to minicamp and then getting a new deal done with the team before the starting of training camp.
That takes us to Tuesday’s other big absence: outside linebacker T.J. Watt. Watt was not spotted in drills on Tuesday, with Nick Herbig lining up next to the starters in his usual place on the defense.
The last time we heard from Watt, he was creating a stir with a cryptic Instagram post of him holding up two fingers — slang for see ya later.
Watt is entering the final season of his contract and is looking for an extension with the team that will likely rival the $40 million per year the Cleveland Browns gave Myles Garrett.
It could be that Watt is simply on his way back from a vacation, or enjoying time at home with his new daughter or filming another Old El Paso commercial, or doing any number of things that could occupy his time this time of year, and will return to the team eventually before reporting to training camp.
Watt, one of the best football players in the world, needs nothing at all from OTAs that he can’t get somewhere else. His absence is irrelevant, unless it’s intentional.
If Watt is gearing up for another long contract fight, like the one that nearly dragged into the regular season in 2021, that could present an issue. The Steelers have generally gotten business done with their star players over the years, and general manager Omar Khan has said on the record that he wants to extend Watt’s contract.
But a contentious fight with your own superstar is never a good thing, and if he feels that it’s going to be enough of a fight to hold out from OTAs, that’s probably not a good sign for how things will go.
Or he’s just enjoying some tacos on some other company’s dime. Who knows right now. Time will tell.