LATROBE, Pa. - The Steelers are only two days into training camp, but the shape of this thing is already clear: it looks and feels different.
The biggest change is tempo. McCarthy’s camp has been built to move fast, with two simultaneous 11-on-11 periods and almost no idle time between reps.
Players have to be sharp and deliberate because there’s no room to drift. Even when the pads eventually come on Monday, the tone is still going to be “thud,” not tackling.
The point, McCarthy said, is to pile on information and stress the mental side as much as the physical one.
“It’s clearly by design because you go back to what I just talked about, the pre-snap. Everybody talks about the physical and the mental stress of a physical camp.
Well, what the hell about the nervous system? Who’s training that?
How you how you tapping that? How are you pushing that?
Where you getting that at? Where’s the mental toughness?
Where’s the emotional toughness? How do you train that on a football field?
So this is all by design. And like I said a lot a lot of my ideas a lot of my approaches, the systematic things really comes from the days as a quarterbacks coach,” McCarthy said.
There are other small but noticeable changes, too. There are no benches at practice.
The starts are earlier, which helps McCarthy fit in the heavy meeting load he’s putting on the players. It’s a different kind of camp than the one Steelers fans have known for a long time, and that part is already unmistakable.
On the field, the early offensive standout has been Roman Wilson. He’s taken nearly all of the first-team slot snaps and has been the most targeted player in camp so far.
Aaron Rodgers has shown real trust in him, even after two miscommunications on the opening day. Wilson’s speed and quickness have popped, and the Steelers have used him as a release valve away from DK Metcalf while also asking him to run a wide route tree.
“But I think the guy out of anybody that’s really shown this new staff, because it is a new staff, a lot of great tape is Roman Wilson. I think Roman had a really nice spring.
Got to know him on a deeper level during that trip, which was fun. But I expect him to start to make some splash plays.
He did in the spring. And I expect him to have a nice camp,” Rodgers said.
Wilson has a real shot to beat out Germie Bernard for the WR3 job, even with the rookie from Alabama off to a strong start. At this point, Wilson’s edge comes from what he’s doing, not from anything Bernard has failed to do.
Rodgers, meanwhile, has been on a limited workload but has looked sharp whenever the Steelers have put him out there. He threw one interception on the first day when the ball bounced off Darnell Washington’s hands, but even some of the incompletions have been high-level throws. On Thursday, he ripped a slant to Metcalf between three defenders that would have gone for a big gain, and his deep ball down the sideline to Wilson may have been the best throw of camp so far.
Mason Rudolph has been rotating through the first, second and even third units to spread the reps around. He hasn’t flashed anything extraordinary, but he has been steady and correct with his decisions. When the Steelers brought a disguised slot blitz on Thursday, Rudolph recognized it right away and got the ball to Germie Bernard on the hot route behind it.
Will Howard has been quieter, but he’s also shown some real touch. He doesn’t have elite arm strength, yet his accuracy outside the numbers has stood out, and he fit one up the seam to Robert Tonyan on Thursday.
The rough spot came in his two-minute period, where he threw an interception that could raise an eyebrow. Still, it hasn’t been a bad opening to camp.
Drew Allar had a more uneven first day, when he missed at least four throws in 7-on-7. But he’s also looked faster and freer as he works through McCarthy’s QB school and Rodgers’ influence.
On Thursday, he didn’t have the same kind of splash throws he showed Wednesday, but he did work through reads and make smarter checkdown decisions. In 11-on-11, he hit two completions of 30 yards or more downfield.
The rookie is settling in.
A few other developments have stood out through the first two days. Asante Samuel Jr. has been the most productive defender so far.
On Thursday, in what looked like a version of inverted Cover 2, he carried the seam before peeling off to the wheel route on the sideline for a remarkable breakup. He already has four pass breakups with Joey Porter Jr. out.
DeShon Elliott was limited Wednesday but returned to most team periods Thursday. Max Iheanchor’s footwork has been a bright spot, with the rookie looking quick and clean in pass protection, even against rushers like Nick Herbig.
The hand work still needs work, and James Campen has made that clear. Iheanchor has mixed in with the first team only at right tackle and has seen some T.J.
Watt.
Yahya Black has been the only player used as a true nose tackle. Keeanu Benton, Cam Heyward and others have put their hand in that spot at times, but the Steelers want the second-year Iowa man to own it if he can. Domata Peko has been focused on Black’s pad level, which remains a major issue.
At linebacker, Malik Harrison has barely been used with that group. When he has, it’s been with the third team on the second field.
Cole Holcomb has taken some first-team base reps next to Patrick Queen, while Payton Wilson has become the true starter beside Queen in nickel packages. Carson Bruener is even getting more work with the second unit.
Harrison’s roster spot is suddenly a real question.
And on the receiver front, Brandon Smith has quietly put together a couple of days that should get him noticed. He hauled in two back-shoulder catches against Jamel Dean and has shown enough hands and speed to suggest he can threaten down the field.
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