Steelers Training Camp 2024: Recapping Day 1 & Day 2
insert a dramatic sigh of relief here
We made it, gang. Yesterday, the Steelers held their first practice of the 2024 training camp, and the NFL season has officially begun.
The first two team practices are behind us, and even though we haven’t even had any padded practices yet (our first practice with pads will be on Tuesday), there are already some interesting storylines unfolding. We’ll get to that shortly.
The coolest Coach in sports, Coach Mike Tomlin, addressed the media before the start of the first practice yesterday (July 25th), and gave us some important information.
He started out the media availability by saying that all players are “present and accounted for”. As I acknowledged the other day, we’re extremely lucky that we aren’t dealing with any camp holdouts - I was mildly concerned that Cameron Heyward might be a no-show to start off camp. We had three guys unavailable to us to kick things off including: Dean Lowry and Cole Holcomb, who were both placed on the PUP list, and Cordarrelle Patterson, who was placed on the NFI list with a lingering hamstring issue. Coach Tomlin characterized Patterson as day-to-day at this point, which is good, because we’re going to need him to get plenty of reps ahead of the preseason considering the new kickoff rules.
Another mildly important detail that was given to us during Coach Tomlin’s first real presser of the season involved the inclusion of CB Cameron Sutton in training camp activities. Coach Tomlin addressed it pretty plainly: “His suspension has no bearing on his work in this environment.” Thanks Coach!
Outside of that, he mainly answered some pretty generalized questions about how training camp is conducted and how that evolves based on the year, the group, the technology, etc. Check that out if you’re a nerd like me!
As for the play on the field, these first two days of camp have brought out some pretty exciting storylines. There’s tons of anticipation for this new-look offensive line, but until we start seeing some practices with pads on, it’s hard to gauge what we’ve seen to this point, outside the fact that there have been quite a few false starts. We do, however, get a pretty good idea of the depth chart based on how guys have lined up.
For starters, it’s looking like Nate Herbig was a starter at center to kick off training camp. In true Mike Tomlin fashion, the rookie second rounder, Zach Frazier, isn’t going to be handed the starting spot without putting in the work. The same thing can be said for the left tackle spot, as Dan Moore Jr. is commanding that spot as opposed to rookie first rounder Troy Fautanu. It’s also looking like Broderick Jones will start his sophomore season at RT, where his expectations are high. We should get more clarity about the hierarchy along this offensive line once the pads come out.
Sticking with the offensive side of the ball, we’ve gotten a good look at what our offense will look like under OC Arthur Smith. A very healthy dose of 12 personnel and 13 personnel, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. We should expect quite a few TEs to make this roster and do really well. Pat Freiermuth looks like he could very well be in for a damn good year. He’s getting moved all over the formation and is seeing a ton of targets (he’s a sneaky good fantasy TE). With those heavy personnel sets, we’ve seen a lot of zone runs and RPOs, and even pistol formations, in the first two days of practice. It’s looking like a picturesque Arthur Smith offense so far; extremely reminiscent of his days as the offensive coordinator in Tennessee. And, why shouldn’t it be? Our offense is going to be at its best when the run game is going and our TEs are all over the formation.
With that being said, the QB1, whether that be Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, is going to have to nail those quick, play-action plays, which requires tremendous timing and trust between our receivers and the QB. So far, Justin Fields has been seeing first team snaps while Russell Wilson has watched from the sidelines thanks to tightness in his calf. Fields’ ability to hit on the long ball is amazing, actually. It’s the simple plays that concern me with him, and that has been the case in the first two days of training camp. His arm talent is not to be questioned, but if he wants to secure that starting spot, he’s going to have to show more consistency. That’s alright though; I think that’s kinda the point of having him and Russell Wilson at the same time. Fields looks good, but there’s room for improvement, and he knows it. Russ will retain his QB1 status as soon as he’s ready to go.
One last thing about the offense that I might as well touch on is the interaction between WR George Pickens and WR Coach Zach Azzanni. Evidently, Azzanni took issue with GP’s effort on a play/drill toward the end of practice on the first day of camp, which led to a visibly heated exchange between the two. Unfortunately, Pickens has earned the ‘diva’ title in the eyes of a lot of fans due to his outbursts and perceived lack of effort in the past. There should be no doubt about the raw talent that this guy possesses - his ceiling is beyond our atmosphere, but he’s not exactly putting up Antonio Brown numbers around here. His antics will only be tolerated to a certain extent unless his numbers take a decent leap this year. Azzanni has the reputation of being a pretty rugged coach, and I’m happy he’s jumping on GP’s ass from day one. Folks will speak on this like it’s a big deal, but it’s really not. He’ll be ready to eviscerate corners come week one.
Now for the defense:
It seems like the consensus winner of the first two days has been CB Donte Jackson. I have spoken with excitement in the past about how underrated an acquisition he was for us, and I stand by that. He’s found himself across from George Pickens quite a few times, and like all corners, he has lost some of those battles, but he has won quite a few as well. I genuinely believe he’s the CB2 that we needed, and I’m so grateful that my confidence in him is coming to fruition so far. The same exact thing can be said about DeShon Elliot, who has been seeing snaps at safety and slot corner. His versatility may be our saving grace when attrition inevitably kicks in throughout the year. His ability to move all around the back of the defense is going to really open up some things in our playbook, including some good three-safety looks and some good Tampa looks that Tomlin loves. With a defense as talented as this, having the ability to dive deeper into the playbook can be a scary thing for the opposition.
The defensive line has been kinda tough to judge, similar to the offensive line, because of the lack of pads. However, they’re still finding a way to make plays, batting down passes at the line of scrimmage. The fact that they’re already making plays, and they’re not even really trying says a lot about the talent that exists on our defensive front. Our father, T.J. Watt had a dominant day two, but who’s really surprised about that?
Another DB that has had a solid start to camp is Beanie Bishop Jr., who has played the majority of the slot corner snaps with the 1s. Coach told us not to read too much into that, but if he continues on this trajectory, he figures to get quite a bit of playing time at the start of the year, especially in the absence of Cam Sutton.
That’s it. Two days in the books, quite a bit to go. I will not overreact to training camp clips. I will not overreact to training camp clips. I will not overreact to training camp clips. I will not overreact to training camp clips. The Steelers are winning the Super Bowl. I will not overreact to training camp clips.
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