A noticeable buzz came over the crowd at Saint Vincent College's Chuck Noll Field Monday as Mitch Trubisky walked to the sideline following his four opportunities with the Steelers' first team offense during the team's '7 Shots' portion of practice.
The clamor was due to — for the first time since he joined the Steelers — first-round pick Kenny Pickett taking the field with the second string offense.
And more changes could be on the way.
"There will be more of that," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin following practice. "All of those guys will run in all groups. It's just part of team development."
Tomlin was asked if anything should be read into the new order.
"You should not," he replied, with a grin. "But I'm sure you will."
Pickett has struggled while working with the third string to this point, but looked noticeably more comfortable while operating the second team offense.
While his two attempts in the '7 Shots' drill netted incompletions, he continued on, leading the backups through Pittsburgh's first padded practice of 2022.
During live action, the former Pitt quarterback started by hitting Miles Boykin on a play-action pass over the middle. He also executed an end-around touch pass to follow rookie Calvin Austin III for a nice gain and he connected with Gunner Olszewski on a shotgun play-fake by rifling a ball to him over the middle.
All in all, Monday was a nice step forward for Pickett who, while not perfect, seemed to embrace the opportunity to work with a higher level of offensive teammates.
Well that means…
Yep, Mason Rudolph got third-team reps all of practice, and took an obvious step back.
Rudolph did send a shovel pass to Jace Sternberger for a touchdown during '7 Shots,' but failed to produce much for the offense after that.
The fifth-year quarterback got all second-string reps last week, and performed fairly well through the first handful of practices.
But his first series Monday was highlighted by a pair of batted down passes and a missed badly throw over the middle to Connor Heyward.
The question now, however, becomes if the third-team struggles of Pickett and then Rudolph are based on the caliber of the quarterbacks themselves, or a result of a lack of offensive talent around them.
Pads on
This was the first time since last season that players were allowed to hit with pads on.
That meant that one of Mike Tomlin's favorite drills, 'backs on backers' was one of the highlights of the day. It pits a running back against a linebacker to simulate in-game pass protection.
"Drills are football-like, they're not football," Tomlin said. "Someone has an advantage in the drill and I expect those that have an advantage to win quickly. I expect those that are at a disadvantage to fight and compete."
Tomlin gave some veteran players a lighter workload, like TJ Watt, who did not participate. But Pittsburgh's rookies and younger players were tossed out frequently, occasionally taking multiple reps in a row.
"They need reps," Tomlin added. "It's really as simple as that, they need reps. So you provide them the additional reps that they need."
Some of the big winners of the drill? Rookie running back Jaylen Warren and fellow first-year player, linebacker Mark Robinson had good showings. Meanwhile, running back Anthony McFarland struggled quite a bit to pass protect.
While the team wore pads on the shoulders and legs, they also wore them on their helmets, sporting the Guardian helmet protectors for the first time in live activities.
Diontae Update
Following some speculation that the Steelers' top receiver, Diontae Johnson, would participate in team activities Monday, Johnson again stayed away from anything close to contact.
Johnson continues a soft hold-in, in which he will only participate in individual activities.
"We'll see what tomorrow holds," Tomlin said.
Green Dot
After practice, Myles Jack told 93.7 The Fan that, as of right now, linebacker Devin Bush is wearing the 'green dot' communication helmet.
"We haven't necessarily had talks about that yet," Jack said. "Right now (Bush) has it because he's had it. But we haven't necessarily figured out all that."
That could change, however, when safety Minkah Fitzpatrick returns from his wrist injury.
Bush was stripped of the defensive communication helmet during training camp last year when the team traded for Joe Schobert.
Injuries
Steelers star running back Najee Harris left with a foot injury, and Mike Tomlin provided an update afterwards.
Chase Claypool, Pat Freiermuth, Miles Killebrew, Tyson Alualu, Marcus Allen and Fitzpatrick all did not partake in practice.
Newly signed running back Jeremy McNichols is new to the injury list with a shoulder ailment that is being evaluated, per Tomlin.
