Tag: Steelers training camp

Steelers bring in trio of wide receviers for tryouts

The Steelers continue to hunt for help at wide receiver.

Even as Pittsburgh Steelers training camp begins, the front office continues to hunt for options to add to the wide receiver depth chart. The Steelers have reportedly brought in three more free-agent wide receivers for tryouts.

According to NFL reporter James Layton, the Steelers had in Tariq Black, Slade Boldon and Greg Ward Jr for workouts.

Black joined the NFL via the University of Michigan and the University of Texas in 2021 as an undrafted free agent. Black as been with the Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets. In three seasons he has one reception for 10 yards.

Boldon played his college football at the University of Alamaba and was an undrafted free agent to the Baltimore Ravens. In two NFL seasons, Bolden has no receptions.

Ward Jr. is the most experienced of the trio having been in the league since 2017. Ward has spent all of his time in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and had 88 career receptions for 768 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns.

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Steelers rookie OT Troy Fautanu says he’s treating every training camp day like a game

Steelers rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu is ready to compete for a starting job.

The first to arrive at Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu. The Steelers picked Fautanu with their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft and he’s taking training camp seriously even though he brought his guitar with him.

Fautanu was mobbed by the media upon his arrival and he made it clear that he is going to treat every day at training camp like a game day. Fautanu is in one of the bigger position battles here at Steelers training camp as he doesn’t against veteran Dan Moore Jr. for one of the starting tackle spots, opposite Broderick Jones.

We expect to see either Fautanu or Moore as the team’s starting right tackle when the season kicks off and Jones moved to the left side. Fautaunu is the future at right tackle but just like with Jones last season, no one expects the Steelers to rush him into the starting lineup.

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Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb latest training camp holdout

Could the Steelers make a trade for WR CeeDee Lamb?

As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to start training camp, a starting wide receiver is still the team’s top roster need. After trading away Diontae Johnson at the start of free agency, the team did nothing of any substance to replace him on the roster.

Most pundits have pointed to San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk as the disgruntled receiver who could be a potential trade target for the Steelers but perhaps there’s another option.

ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter, Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is holding out of Cowboys training camp as he wants a new contract on par with the top receivers in the league.

If the Cowboys and Lamb can’t come to an agreement, Dallas might be willing to move on from him and the Steelers could be buyers.

Before anyone starts to complain about the huge contract Lamb will want or the cost of a trade, understand this is the nature of the NFL. The market is set for elite wide receivers and Lamb is certainly one of the five best. He deserves to be paid like one and if the Steelers want to be competitive they need a player like him.

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NFL writer goes way off script for potential Steelers training-camp cut

Would the Steelers acutally cut Russell Wilson?

There is always a surprise or two when it comes to cuts during NFL training camps. It is typically related to salary more than anything but many veterans know they are on the bubble because of heated position battles.

The biggest position battle of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is at quarterback between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. We all want this to be a fair fight and both guys have a shot to run the Steelers offense. Head coach Mike Tomlin has stated Wilson has the pole position but Fields has made it clear he’s competing to be the starter.

Pro Football Network offered one one potential surprise cut for each team and they went way out on a limb when they named Wilson as the Steelers potential player on the block if Fields wins the starting job.

Here’s what they had to say about the move:

With a salary of just over $1 million, Russell Wilson arguably is more valuable to the Steelers if he stays on the roster. However, the salary also makes him easy to cut, and if Justin Fields wins the starting QB job, Pittsburgh might want to cut Wilson to avoid distractions.

PFN makes the best argument against cutting Wilson in their synopsis. The Steelers have Wilson for pennies compared to other quarterbacks and he is a consummate professional. If by some miracle Fields could beat him out, we’d expect Wilson to be supportive and a great mentor.

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PFF says Steelers should trade for WR Brandon Aiyuk

Wide receiver is one of the only positional units that didn’t get better for the Steelers this offseason.

It’s training camp week for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have gone to great lengths to improve all three phases to stay competitive in a deep and talented AFC North.

But even with all the changes the team has made there is always work to be done. Pro Football Focus offered up one move every NFL team should make before the start of training camp. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the move they recommend is to trade for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

Here is what they had to say about the Steelers and the potential trade:

The Steelers’ offense underwent some major changes in the offseason. The front office brought in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to compete for the starting quarterback job, added three new faces to the offensive line and traded away Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers. George Pickens is now expected to be the leading receiver, but the Steelers are thin overall at the position.

Brandon Aiyuk’s contract situation is looming large in San Francisco. The former first-round pick will play out 2024 on his fifth-year option and is due to be a free agent at the end of the season. While the 49ers would like to have him back, we’ve yet to see a long-term deal play out. And when it does, it’ll likely be for big money — money the 49ers may not be able to afford. That could open the door for a receiver-needy team like the Steelers to make a move.

There’s no denying how badly the Steelers need to add another wide receiver. Aiyuk would be a perfect player to pair up with George Pickens but the cost is too high, I fear.

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Predicting 2 Steelers to start training camp on the PUP list

Which Steelers will start the season on the PUP list?

In just three days, the Pittsburgh Steelers will open up 2024 training camp. So far, we’ve had no word of any Steelers players starting the season on the Physically Unable to Perform List (PUP) but the team still has time to place players.

Here is how the NFL defines the active PUP list:

Active/PUP list: Players are placed on this list during training camp and count toward a team’s 90-man roster. Players can be removed from the list at any time during camp, but can’t be placed back on the list. Players on this list as of final roster cutdowns must be placed on the Reserve/PUP, released, traded or counted against the 53-man roster.

The Steelers have two prime candidates to go on the active PUP ahead of the start of training camp. One is linebacker Cole Holcomb who is making slow progress as he tries to return from a knee injury he suffered in the middle of the 2023 season.

Another player who might start the season on the PUP is cornerback Cory Trice. He missed all of the 2023 season with a torn ACL he suffered on the first day of padded practice at last year’s training camp. Pittsburgh needs to ease Trice back into action if they want him to help in year two.

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NFL analyst says Russell Wilson will lose Steelers QB job to Justin Fields

Russell Wilson should begin the season as the starter but he might not finish there.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers start training camp in a week, all eyes are going to be on quarterbacks Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. Wilson has the lead in the quarterback race and could start the season as the starter but we don’t have any misconceptions that Wilson is irreplaceable.

In fact, it could be more of a case of when the Steelers go with Fields and not a matter of if it happens. This is what Colin Cowherd and John Middlekauff talked about on the “Colin Cowherd Podcast” and neither guy was optimistic that Wilson would get 17 starts in the regular season.

Two things work in Wilson’s favor. First, it’s the strength of the schedule for the Steelers in the first half. Wilson has a chance to string together some wins and cement the team’s confidence in him.

The second thing is Fields’ ability to play in a spot role and still help the offense. Wilson cannot do that so if the Steelers are going to use two quarterbacks in any capacity, it’s Wilson as the starter and Fields coming off the bench.

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Steelers to host joint training camp practice with Buffalo Bills

The Steelers and Bills square off in a preseason game just two days after their joint practice.

According to the NFL press release, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills will have a joint practice on August 15. The Steelers haven’t done a joint practice at training camp since they held one with the Detroit Lions way back in 2016.

The Steelers and Bills will then square off in a preseason game at Acrisure Stadium just two days after the joint practice with the Steelers in Latrobe. The practice will be closed to the public.

This preseason game will be a rematch of last year’s playoff game between Pittsburgh and Buffalo where the Bills dominated the Steelers 38-3. Pittsburgh snuck into the playoffs but was quickly exposed against the Bills.

Pittsburgh has made significant upgrades on offense this offseason in hopes of being able to compete with the top teams in the AFC like the Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.

In that 2016 joint practice between the Steelers and Bills, former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown got into an argument with the officials on hand to the point he was nearly ejected from practice.

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Steelers running out of time to make decision on quarterbacks

The Steelers cannot afford to go into the season with no quarterback signed beyond 2024.

In two weeks, Pittsburgh Steelers training camp gets started and with that, the clock starts. The front office has a firm policy about negotiations and contract extensions.

As a rule, the Steelers are willing to work on new deals for players throughout training camp and the preseason. But once the season starts, negotiations end and the players move forward on the final year of their respective contracts.

This puts some serious pressure on the Steelers front office when it comes to the quarterback position. Pittsburgh went to great lengths to completely rebuild the quarterback room this offseason but they are just rentals.

Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and even Kyle Allen are all working on one-year contracts and there’s no rookie waiting in the wings if the Steelers can’t keep one or more.

What this could mean for Pittsburgh is they lean heavily on training camp and preseason games to decide if Wilson or Fields are worth an extension now and if so, how much.

It seems unlikely Pittsburgh would give both guys an extension so it might be first come, first served. The player who gets the extension might not be this season’s starter but the contract is a vote of confidence for the future.

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Pittsburgh might have all the wide receivers they need after all

Arthur Smith’s offense doesn’t require an elite No. 2 wide receiver.

If the NFL season started today, the most likely starting wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers opposite George Pickens is veteran Van Jefferson. Concerns over this is why every time the name Brandon Aiyuk or D.K. Metcalf comes up, Steelers fans get hopeful are making a big trade.

But it might not be that complicated. Looking over the offenses new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has been in charge of, the role of the No. 2 wide receiver might not be as vital as it could be on other teams.

This is especially true based on the rest of the Steelers skill players. Running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren are both accomplished pass catchers out of the backfield.

The Steelers also have multiple pass-catching tight ends on the roster including Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward.

There’s no denying the sledding will be tough for Pickens at first as he adjusts to getting all the deep coverage his way. But with the Steelers run-first mentality and so many big, physical weapons, teams are not going to be able to commit extra defenders deep, which should let Pickens flourish in play action.

Jefferson is not a bad player at all. He’s got 113 receptions in four seasons and a career-high 50 in 2021 for 803 receiving yards. A season like that is more than sufficient for the Steelers in this new scheme.

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