What to Watch for at Steelers Minicamp
The Pittsburgh Steelers will report to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side on Tuesday for the first of their three-day mandatory minicamp.
For the first time this season, the players will be contractually obligated to attend after two weeks of the voluntary organized team activities, or OTAs. The Steelers cut those short, holding just six practices instead of the maximum of 10.
Like OTAs, the team will participate in daily practices, that will be without live contact. The team will run 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills without contact.
Here’s three things to watch for from the three-day minicamp:
DIONTAE JOHNSON’S PARTICIPATION
The Steelers wide receiver, who is seeking a new contract this offseason with his set to expire next March, showed up a week late to OTAs. That won’t be an option this time if he wants to keep collecting full paychecks. But he may be able to pick and choose which drills he wants to take part in.
The Steelers made that work with T.J. Watt last year while they negotiated a contract extension for their superstar linebacker. Will they tell Johnson no if he wants the same arrangement? That’s within their rights, but might not pay off with Johnson at the table.
Minkah Fitzpatrick is in the same contract boat, but his negotiations seems far more copacetic, with several insiders suggesting the team and Fitzpatrick’s representative weren’t far from a deal before Omar Khan, the team’s lead contact negotiator, acceded to the general manager position.
FIRST WORDS FROM FLORES
Minicamp is one of the few times of the year that the Steelers make assistant coaches available to the media, which means that it will be the first time that the Pittsburgh media has spoken with Brian Flores with carte blanche access. (He spoke after the draft, but asked to keep questions about the players selected.)
There is lots to talk about with regards to the former head coach’s plans for the Pittsburgh defense, but the conversation will likely be centered around Flores’ lawsuit against the league, the fallout from it, how he ended up in Pittsburgh, and where things go from here.
There are other coaches to catch up with. Mike Sullivan and Matt Canada have three new quarterbacks, Teryl Austin is now defensive coordinator, Pat Meyer and Frisman Jackson are new position coaches, Jerry Olsavsky (Myles Jack) and Grady Brown (Levi Wallace) are veteran coaches with new starters.
THE LAST WORDS ON TUITT
We’ve heard from Stephon Tuitt’s teammates about his recent retirement, and I don’t expect that we’ll hear from Tuitt himself any time soon. That leaves head coach Mike Tomlin and position coach Karl Dunbar the last two relevant voices to be heard about Tuitt hanging up his cleats and what that means for the 2022 Steelers defense.
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