Winners and Losers from the First Week of Steelers Training Camp
New defensive backs Donte Jackson and DeShon Elliott have stolen the show, but the depth behind them might be shaky.
UNITY TWP., Pa. — The first week of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is in the books, and while the first four practice sessions, all of which are mandated by the league to be partaken without pads, are probably the lowest-stakes setting of the entire affair, we can still learn a lot about which players have improved, which have not, who is getting extended chances, and who is not.
So without further ado, here are our winners and losers from the first week of Steelers training camp 2024.
WINNER: CB DONTE JACKSON
The Steelers traded from their wide receivers room, making a Diontae Johnson-sized hole on offense to shore up their defensive secondary earlier this year. While a lot of the focus of the offseason has been about what Omar Khan might to do replace Johnson, the hole that remains won’t feel quite so big if Donte Jackson can play at a high level in the defensive secondary.
On that front, so far, so good. Jackson has probably been the team’s most impactful defensive back through its first four practices, and he’s done so while largely being tasked to deal with George Pickens on a down-in, down-out basis, something those two arranged.
“Me and George’s lockers are right beside each other here at Latrobe, so we talk a lot,” Jackson said. “We want to go against each other. He knows what I bring just in press converge and competing, and I know what he brings in terms of high-pointing the ball and catch radius. It’s work I want to get done and it’s work he wants to get done.”
Jackson had training camp’s first interception on Sunday, picking off a badly thrown Justin Fields pass, and he’s also given a very solid battle to Pickens. Pickens has gotten some wins off him to the inside, but Jackson has been very diligent about keeping the lid on the top and not letting the big-bodied receiver get behind him.
The question marks at wide receiver remain, but right now, it at least looks like the Steelers got a solid cornerback out of the deal.
LOSER: CB CORY TRICE
Loser might be a bit unfair here, but there were very high hopes for Cory Trice at this time last year, before an ACL injury took his rookie season away from him. Trice wore a heavy brace while being a largely full participant in OTAs and minicamp, and said he hoped to be fully cleared for training camp.
He hasn’t been wearing the brace so far at St. Vincent College, but he also hasn’t been participating in the team drills. There’s plenty of time for Trice to get back to action, but the Steelers’ outside cornerback depth chart already looked pretty thin.
Behind Jackson and Joey Porter Jr., it’s just Darius Rush, owner of a grand total of 39 defensive snaps, with any NFL experience. Cam Sutton has outside cornerback experience, but will be suspended for the first eight weeks. If Trice can’t get going quickly, the Steelers may be forced to bring someone else in from the outside to shore up that role before the end of training camp.
WINNER: SS DESHON ELLIOTT
If Jackson has been the most impactful Steelers defensive back in the first week of training camp, it’s not by a big margin over DeShon Elliott. The new safety has fit seamlessly into his multi-faceted role, lining up as a big slot, box safety, half-field safety, and reporting for duty as a personal pain in the butt for Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth.
Elliott has also shown promise as an excellent blitzer so far, with the caveat that no one in pads has been blocking him. But he seems to have a knack for timing up snap counts and making his move in such a way that he’s come clear and free several times, where the padlessness of practice wouldn’t have made a difference, because he was untouched on the way to Justin Fields.
LOSER: CB KALON BARNES
With Trice still not working fully, Kalon Barnes has gotten a lot of run as the club’s second-team cornerback alongside Rush. Unfortunately, the fastest cornerback in the history of the NFL Combine hasn’t been able to translate that speed into production at the NFL level.
And this is before we get to the pads and run stopping, which is not Barnes’ forte. Third-string running back Jonathan Ward has already juked him out of his shoes once already, without pads. Barnes has an opportunity with Trice out, but so far hasn’t taken advantage.
WINNER: CB BEANIE BISHOP
Unprecedented is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but I’ve spoken with a number of my longer-tenure colleagues on the Steelers beat, and no one can remember any undrafted free agent ever working as a starter in his first week of training camp. Maybe fullback Will Johnson did it in 2012. He started Week 1, but nobody seems to recall what happened the first week of camp. Maybe Donnie Shell did it in 1974, but there was a strike on and the veterans weren’t around.
Either way, it’s a very rare feat indeed, and Beanie Bishop has been getting all the run he can handle with the first-team offense as the Nickel cornerback. He’s certainly taken a few lumps, mostly from Calvin Austin III, but the amount of faith the coaching staff has shown in him is what has really stood out.
LOSER: QB JUSTIN FIELDS
Justin Fields hasn’t been bad in his four practices as the Steelers’ starting quarterback. He’s mostly just been the same Justin Fields that led the Chicago Bears the last three seasons. There have been glimpses of greatness marred by a lack of consistency and a few truly awful plays sprinkled in.
The problem for Fields is that the player he was the last three years has been worse than Russell Wilson. So unless this calf injury really hampers Wilson, Fields is going to have to do better than he’s done so far if he hopes to truly contend for a starting role.
WINNER: WR CALVIN AUSTIN III
Every day that the Steelers don’t add another wide receiver feels like a win for Austin, and not only has he accomplished that, he’s continued the momentum from a strong spring into training camp. He hasn’t quite been as productive as he was during OTAs and minicamp, but he’s shown versatility and the ability to play inside and out, run short or deep, and make an impact on a variety of different routes. Austin has been the team’s second-best receiver since the start of the year, and nothing has happened in one week to push him from that mantle.
LOSER: TE RODNEY WILLIAMS II
“Hot Rod” was already in a tough roster spot, sitting fifth on the tight end depth chart after the Steelers brought in old Arthur Smith cohort MyCole Pruitt. Now, with an AC joint sprain, he looks to likely miss about a week of practice rehabbing. The injury came just after Williams had made his best play of camp so far, so he can certainly rebound, but the injury has made a hard job even tougher.
WINNER: WR ROMAN WILSON
It hasn’t been a secret that Roman Wilson didn’t have a great OTAs and minicamp with the Steelers, but the third-rounder from Michigan has been coming out of his shell at training camp. He stacked great days over the weekend, making his best catch as a pro over Bishop on Sunday, and he seems to be developing some rapport with Fields and Kyle Allen.
LOSER: LB MARK ROBINSON
Mark Robinson’s chance of making the roster got dealt a tough blow when the Steelers brought back Tyler Matakevich on the eve of training camp, and he didn’t really do anything this week to stem that tide of negativity.
Robinson wasn’t bad, and his forte will certainly be more easily revealed when the pads go on, but he’s a player that I had on the 53-man roster at the end of minicamp, that I don’t right now.
WINNER: DL DEMARVIN LEAL
There might not be a player with higher stakes this training camp than DeMarvin Leal, and so far, “Marv” has delivered. He finally looks comfortable in the 5-tech/3-tech role along the Steelers defensive line, and seems better equipped to play at the weight he needs to be at to be inside, but also still show off the burst and high motor that made him a third-round pick in the first place.
With Cam Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi getting obviously limited reps, Leal has been the team’s best defensive lineman so far.
LOSER: K CHRIS BOSWELL
I fully acknowledge that I’m reaching here, but there were far more positives than negatives to be taken from the first four days. Chris Boswell kicked competitively just once, and it didn’t go all that well. I wouldn’t panic any time soon.
WINNER: ILB PAYTON WILSON
Everyone had a pretty good idea that Payton Wilson was pretty good at football, even going back to his time at NC State, and the reason he was available to the Steelers in the third round was far more about his injury history than his play on the field.
But it’s still been unreal how seamlessly he’s transitioned to the NFL game. One veteran Steelers defender said this week that he’s not like other rookies. Most make mistakes and learn from them. Wilson is obsessed with not making mistakes.
“Maybe too many questions,” Patrick Queen joked.
Don’t expect this hype train to slow down any time soon.
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