The Steelers will re-convene in Latrobe, Pa. for the start of training camp in 40 days, after completing their three mandatory minicamp sessions at the UMPC Rooney Sports Complex on Thursday.
By this point, players, coaches, and administrators have scattered for their respective vacations or individual training sessions wherever they may, so from now until then, things over on South Water Street will be pretty silent.
With mandatory minicamp in the rear-view mirror, here are three takeaways and observations from the mandatory sessions this past week:
1. The offense won't change stylistically
From just about anybody who spoke on the South Side, from taking in a few general observations, and from the words of Matt Canada himself, it doesn't sound like the offense will have many -- if any -- different wrinkles to it from what we saw in the 2022 season.
"Not really 'new' stuff," Jaylen Warren told me this week. "It's just we're staying true to what we're being coached. If we're supposed to do 'this,' we're expected to do 'that' every single play, instead of 'do it sometimes.'"
As DK pointed out in this week's Friday Insider, the change will have to stem from the development and progression made by Kenny Pickett -- the man who Omar Khan and his front office spent money supplementing with frontline reinforcements Broderick Jones and Isaac Seumalo to go along with new pass-catching specialists Allen Robinson and Darnell Washington. Adding them with a third-year Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth and a second-year George Pickens and Warren and veteran Diontae Johnson should, theoretically, result in improvement from having a bottom-10 scoring and total offense in the league last season.
Canada and how he evolves -- or doesn't -- as a coordinator will have to play a part in that. That comes from not just calling the right play in situation, but it will also boil down to what new wrinkles will be added to help draw out Pickett's skill set and allow for him to make the expected Year 2 jump.
At least he doesn't feel the pressure to perform?
“I’ve got a great job, and I can’t imagine a job when you don’t have pressure," Canada said. "It’s an easy route, we talk about ‘pressure is a privilege,’ right? I’m excited. I would not want any other job and obviously to have the great players we’ve got here, we’re excited about what we’ve got and the development we’ve made over the course of time with the guys we have and some new additions. There’s pressure every day in life if you’ve got something worth doing, so I don’t feel any more than I ever feel. I want to do the best job I possibly can for us to win football games.”
I'd hope to see fewer jet sweeps, at least. I'm also not holding my breath on that.
2. Jones is on a steady trajectory as he gets "a lot of lessons."
Pat Meyer doesn't want to rush the 14th overall pick in the draft into things, but the obvious expectation is for him to become a franchise left tackle, as the investment of the capital suggests, sooner rather than later.
"Size, athleticism, all that that you see evaluating him on film and now getting him here, seeing how light he is on his feet and doing stuff, now we're just working, just with Broderick and everybody else, on fine-tuning their skills and getting them to where we're wanting them to be," Meyer said this week.
For my fellow Seinfeld enjoyers out there, Jones is just about "Even Steven" with regards to his development.
And, that is a fine place to be after rookie minicamp, mandatory OTAs, and mandatory minicamp. Jones is in a spot where he will have to earn the right to start as a rookie left tackle, as Dan Moore has been giving the rookie a run for his money in this portion of the offseason.
"Just a lot of lessons, really," Jones said this week. "Just continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to better myself. Job's not finished yet. Got a long way to go, a lot more to learn, a lot more to take in, so I'm ready for the journey ahead."
Moore has repped at right tackle, which gives off a notion that he could be the primary swing tackle to help in depth behind Chukwuma Okorafor once Jones is ready to be or is deemed the Steelers' full-time left tackle.
"Dan's been unbelievable this whole experience," Meyer said. From the day we drafted Broderick he has been nothing but helpful to Broderick. After practice he's taking Broderick over there, he's having him take sets on air, and doing things with him and teaching him how to work different techniques we do, so he's been nothing but a Godsend on that, and at the same time I know he has an approach that -- 'I'm going to win this job' -- which, that's a true pro. That's what you want. Those are the types of guys that you want to coach. Guys that aren't selfish in terms of, 'we're going to help the young guys out, but at the same time I'm going to compete and I'm going to do the best I can to be one of the guys.'"
3. Joey Porter Jr. has been a sponge to Patrick Peterson.
Here's the visual evidence, dating to OTAs:
And here's the testimonial evidence from this week, as Porter confirmed he was taking reps with the first-team defense:
“Just great to be out there with the ones and all the guys,” Porter said this week. “The communication is a big part of the ones, so I am just trying to keep up with them and keep learning.”
Porter Jr. has looked as advertised for being the first pick in the second round, and he brings tremendous length and size to a secondary that was emphasized on adding size.
"I think having to had to play a young corner before, I think the things I always look for was, obviously you look for the competitiveness, you look for all the good things that -- he's out there and he's playing with confidence," Teryl Austin said this week. "But, I always look for what's the understanding of his role. Does he understand why we're putting him here in this particular role right now? If he understands that, then you move towards how he's actually playing it, is he doing it well? Sometimes guys can understand it but not really play it well because they won't play it fast, so you usually look at those two things and then there's usually a moment where you just go, 'OK, I think this guy's ready' -- you're ready to throw him in and understand you may take some lumps with him at some point, but he'll grow through those lumps.
"... I don't know when Joey's time is going to be, but when it comes I think we'll know."
