Wrapping Up OTAs, On To Mandatory Minicamp
On Thursday, the Steelers wrapped up their voluntary OTAs, as we shift our attention to mandatory minicamp, which begins tomorrow. For clarity: during voluntary OTAs, team offenses and defenses are allowed to practice together, but not against each other. Mandatory minicamp is significant, because it’s mandatory, meaning players that don’t show up are subject to fines, and because offenses and defenses are allowed to go against each other. Obviously, guys are able to stand out during OTAs by demonstrating strong fundamentals and work ethic, but minicamp is going to be a great opportunity for guys on both sides of the ball to do some serious jockeying for their spot(s) on the depth chart.
Week three of OTAs actually brought about some pretty newsworthy moments. For starters, our Walter Payton Man of the Year and Team Captain, Cameron Heyward, showed up after missing the first couple of weeks of OTAs for the first time in his career. Heyward was quick to point out that his return to the team wasn’t indicative of progress in his contract negotiations, but that he wanted to be there as a leader of the team.
The Cam Heyward situation is a tough one for me. Obviously, his steady presence and leadership is welcomed and appreciated, especially for a young star on the rise like Keeanu Benton. Not only that, but our run defense was severely hindered when Heyward missed time last year, at least until Benton started seeing more snaps. Despite the injury, and a down year in 2023, Heyward feels as though he’s still a top five player at his position, and that a contract extension should reflect that.
To put it bluntly, if an extension is coming from the Steelers, it’s not going to be for the time AND money that he’s looking for. There’s not too many examples of guys his age, at his position, signing longer, big-money contracts. I can see us extending him on a shorter deal in an effort to protect the franchise, but if he doesn’t go for it, there’s a strong chance that 2024 will be his last year in the black and gold. Potentially seeing him in another uniform will be strange for me, but I’m choosing to enjoy him while he’s here, while accepting that a change of scenery for him might just be necessary. In the short term, he still provides a lot for us, especially in his leadership and his ability against the run.
Another Cam showed his face during the third week of OTAs in the form of CB Cameron Sutton. As I mentioned before, I don’t have a ton to say about this, but I’ll expand on it further than I did, and I’ll start with this: why? Like, I get it…Sutton could provide a lot of value as a slot or nickel guy, but at what cost? Alienating a whole demographic of fans? What message are you sending to the rest of the league? What happened to protecting the “integrity of the shield” and all that bull shit? But hey, all in for a Super Bowl I guess…right?
From a football standpoint, I suppose I get it. I will say, in Detroit, he was put on an island against top receivers more than he should have been. The numbers will say he’s trash, but that’s mostly because he wasn’t used right in my humble opinion. He brings versatility and knowledge of the playbook with him, and given the circumstances he’s dealing with he comes cheap. It just still doesn’t sit right with me.
You can choose for yourself where you stand on this issue and I won’t argue with you regardless of what you think. For me, only guilty people run from the police for as long as he did. And, even worse, when he was asked about it during OTAs, he showed absolutely no remorse. I have written in the past about what I think our rookie DB from Texas, Ryan Watts, can provide in that slot role, and I’m gonna stand on that and hope he passes Sutton on the depth chart, which is a real possibility.
Anyways, moving on.
On the last day of practice, QB Justin Fields took some reps with the 1s, which I was excited to hear about. We’ve heard Tomlin say multiple times that Russell Wilson is in the “pole position” for the starting spot, but I think there’s at least a few people in the building that are secretly hoping Justin Fields is on his heels. I’m hoping and praying we get some footage of Fields running with the starters during minicamp and training camp against an actual defense.
Speaking of training camp, the Steelers finally released their training camp schedule last week, so I’ll be seeing some of yinz there at the end of July!
Last thing I wanted to touch on was the Week 3 sideline report, conducted by Missi Matthews and Craig Wolfley. Wolfley was really hyped up about the young guys on the offensive line, and what they’ve shown throughout OTAs; if you want my opinion on those guys, click here - in short, I’m equally as hyped as he is. Aside from that, Wolfley had some high praise for DB Nathan Meadors, even going as far as to compare him to Mike Hilton, adding that we need to keep an eye on him. It sounds like he has a real chance to make the roster if he continues to impress through minicamp and training camp, so you can bet your ass I’ll be keeping my eyes on that. Meadors has worked with multiple teams, but has only dressed for three NFL games, all with the Minnesota Vikings.
In short, Cam Heyward is back, fuck Cam Sutton, and keep an eye on Nathan Meadors. On to minicamp! Here We Go!
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