LATROBE, Pa. — Shortly after T.J. Watt moved into his dorm room at Saint Vincent College for his 10th NFL season, the star edge rusher was reminded of one of his first training camps. He recalled former coach Mike Tomlin chatting him up in the hallway, asking about his family and his offseason.
“I knew I had a bad rep or two at practice, and he was talking like nothing happened,” Watt said. “I was like, cool, he forgot about it. We go in front of the whole team, and he’s like, ‘Watt, what the hell are you doing?!’”
Now, after spending his first nine seasons with one head coach, Tuesday felt like a “first day of school” for Watt, full of uncertainty as the Mike McCarthy era begins in Latrobe. While McCarthy is acutely aware of the Steelers’ history and will fully embrace some aspects, like the 3-4 defense, he’s going to do things his way. For example, Tomlin preferred to practice during the hottest part of the day from 1:30 to 3:30. McCarthy will start his practices at about 11:20 a.m., preferring to do the heavy lifting early and give his coaches plenty of time to dice up the film.
Within practice, the pace is quicker. During OTAs, there were no benches for players to rest, like in the past. Around the field, there are significantly more cameras, as the new coach believes in analyzing things in a different way. McCarthy’s specialization on the offensive side of the ball also will lead to changes.
“I think the biggest difference for me is it’s an offensive coach,” wide receiver DK Metcalf said. “That’s the first time I’ve had that in my career. So just seeing how you know when the defense messes up, it’s all right next play. But when the offense messes up, we get to go again. I’ve never had that in my career.”
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Perhaps the most significant change will be the amount of physicality in camp. Tomlin often said that “you can’t box without sparring.” Two years ago, The Athletic conducted an informal poll, which led to the conclusion that the former coach conducted, arguably, the NFL’s most physical camp.
McCarthy will choose to do things more methodically and carefully. There will be no live tackling during team periods. Instead, he’ll use dummies and other methods that emphasize footwork to instill the fundamentals; it won’t require Steelers-on-Steelers combat in the same way.
“You have to assess stress in everything you do,” McCarthy said. “I look at that as one of the primary responsibilities of being a head coach, and one of the primary focal points of being in charge of a training regimen for your football team… Injuries are part of the game. I think you’ve clearly got to do the best you can, and it’s a judgment. You try to reduce risk.”
While this is a change to the way the Steelers do business, it falls more in line with league-wide trends. In that survey two years ago, 13 writers responded that their teams never tackle players to the ground and another 11 players said it happened rarely. The Steelers were the anomaly.
It remains to be seen how much more will change when the Steelers take the field for the first time on Wednesday — and when they put on the pads for the first time next Monday.
Ramsey, Porter begin on PUP
The Steelers will be without two starters in their secondary when they take the field on Wednesday. Joey Porter Jr. and Jalen Ramsey were placed on the physical unable to perform (PUP) list. Additionally, depth corner Donte Kent (who sits on the roster’s fringe) will also begin on PUP.
GM Omar Khan said that Ramsey sustained a knee injury during minicamp that did not require surgery. The GM was optimistic that the absence will only be a couple weeks and the versatile DB will be back in time for the start of the season. Ramsey was spotted walking around campus without any sort of brace or wrap on his knee. Still, it’s significant given his importance and versatility.
As the Steelers install a new defense, Ramsey is expected to play a lot of nickel corner, which the team calls the “Star” position. But he’ll also move around throughout the secondary as he’s done in the past, contributing at corner and safety. Brandin Echols is likely the next-man up at Star. D’Shawn Jamison could also be in that conversation. It will also give the Steelers a chance to assess their safety depth behind DeShon Elliott and Jaquan Brisker, which is a bit of a question mark going into camp.
Meanwhile, Porter was not one of the players Khan initially mentioned on Tuesday morning; instead, a few hours later, the team announced the move on social media. The 32nd overall pick in the 2023 draft, Porter is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is seeking a new contract at a time when salaries are skyrocketing for cornerbacks. Porter held himself out of the majority of team drills during OTAs and eyes would have been on him Wednesday to see if he’d begin an in-camp hold-in.
Setting the stage for QB2 competition
While Will Howard took the second-team reps during OTAs and minicamp, McCarthy said that Mason Rudolph will get the ball as QB2 to start training camp. The stage appears to be set for a competition for the backup job behind Aaron Rodgers and, potentially, a spot on the 53-man roster. McCarthy was asked on Tuesday if it’s possible the Steelers could keep all four — Rodgers, Rudolph, Howard and rookie Drew Allar.
“I don’t know why it wouldn’t be,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy traditionally only took three quarterbacks into training camp. The Steelers usually start with four and then trim the roster to three.
“This is how I do it and how I’ve always done it: Who deserves to be on the 53?” McCarthy said. “Then, you gotta figure out who’s 54 and who’s 55 who maybe performed better than 51, 52, and 53. So that’s why you have camp. That’s why we’re up here to compete…. I think all four of those guys, you know, if you were picking a team today, would be definitely part of that 53 conversation.”
Broderick Jones cleared
Three players will start on PUP, but tackle Broderick Jones has been medically cleared for action. Jones, who underwent neck surgery this offseason, worked only in a limited capacity during OTAs and minicamp. During his rehab, Jones not only missed practice but also time in the weight room. It remains to be seen how quickly he’ll be able to get up to speed and how that will impact the depth chart ahead of Week 1.
“When a player comes off of the medical clearance you can’t just go to 100 miles an hour,” McCarthy said. “I think you’ll see that in how his reps go and so forth.”
