LATROBE, Pa. -- The first series of 11-on-11 competition during Friday's sweaty and sticky practice at Saint Vincent College featured a dart from Kenny Pickett to Allen Robinson for a sizable gain, as Keanu Neal blanketed the veteran receiver in man coverage.
About an hour later, in the final 11-on-11 session, Calvin Austin had beat both of Neal and Cole Holcomb out of the slot and broke away down the left side of the hashes. Pickett rainbowed a ball 40-some yards through the air, and Austin adjusted to make a basket catch before his defenders could catch up to him.
If the Steelers' offense wants to resemble the opposite of what the 2022 version gave us -- the one which was in the NFL's bottom-10 in passing yards and points on a per-game basis -- more of that has to be seen from Pickett's offense.
Oh, and it helped that 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones earned his first rep as a first-team left tackle in Friday's practice to help usher in that idea.
Dan Moore Jr. had earned all of the pickings from the first-team drills while Jones worked exclusively with the twos on Thursday. Some stock can be taken into this, but it's also imperative to note that the Steelers are not in pads just yet, and there are still two weeks of practice to go before their first preseason game.
Take stock into this as much as one may please: Jones earned his first rep with the first team during the Steelers' second portion of 11-on-11 drills. He subbed in for Moore at left tackle. On that play, Pickett scrambled to his right for a gain of about 10 yards as Jones faced a rush from Markus Golden.
“First time working first team during camp which, you know, we just started," Jones said after practice. "I got a couple reps, nothing major, but it’s always good getting in with the guys and getting one percent better every day."
A vow of balance came from a steadfast Pickett upon his arrival to Latrobe on Wednesday as the questions poured in regarding how his offense will improve. The offseason moves dictated that there will be a physical presence to the offense, but that also doesn't have to exclusively translate to running the ball. The receivers are meant to fight for footballs coming their way. The tight ends are meant to be hybrids who connect the technical skill of an offensive lineman with the athleticism displayed by the receivers. That is the nature of it all, and there is a balance to find within those positions.
This offense wants to be a connected one, and strides were taken toward that connectivity during this second practice.
"Whenever you can get in a groove and find things early I think that's always beneficial," Robinson said. "You start to get the ball rolling early. Guys are able to figure themselves out, guys are able to figure others out and see what works and what works best. I feel like, for us, we had a solid first day. I thought for us it was, for the most part, clean. What you want to see is things being clean, guys being where they're need to be, and things like that. As you continue to progress through camp you continue to improve and you continue to stack those blocks."
Robinson has looked rejuvenated through the first two days of camp, and he looked more like the 2019 and 2020 versions of himself than the 2021 or 2022 versions. He won't need to be the workhorse receiver like he had to be in Jacksonville, where he led the NFL in touchdowns in 2015, or when he caught more than 1,100 yards in each of the 2019 and 2020 seasons. But, his newfound role as a slot receiver and a reliable veteran to take some of the workload away from Diontae Johnson and George Pickens gives the Steelers a new wrinkle.
Robinson was one of the stars of the offense Friday, as he was a benefactor of some over-aggressiveness from the defense. For one, Pickett connected with Robinson for a deep touchdown during the team portion that took place at midfield, and he found Robinson in the back of the endzone again during seven shots.
Robinson can make his mark in Pittsburgh by providing just that.
"I feel like (the receivers) all have a little bit different play-styles, different size and things like that," Robinson said. "I feel like, for us, we complement each other very well. 'Tae is super quick and George is a bigger dude who can do a little bit of everything, and the same thing with myself. Being able to play inside, being able to play outside. For us, I think with our different skillsets, we have some similarities but we also have differences that can complement each other."
New connections 🤝 @kennypickett10 | @AllenRobinson pic.twitter.com/G8wYJ0iqUV
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) July 28, 2023
And it doesn't go without mentioning the expected development of Pickens into Year 2. Even a casual observer would notice that Pickens isn't just being called on for the athletic, go-up-and-get-it balls on an exclusive basis. He wants to be a more polished route runner, and now he is looking to shoulder some of that burden away from Johnson, Pat Freiermuth, and Robinson by doing more than just the spectacular stuff.
Pickens earned the first target of the first play of 11-on-11 drills on Thursday, and he was Pickett's go-to on the first play of seven shots on Friday.
"I just feel like that's more of an explosive hint," Pickens said. "We're going to, probably, take more shots this year. Try to mix it up a little bit. ... Really just, like, a change. We didn't really talk about it much because the same plays are the same plays, but as far as where we're going with the ball, huge change."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• The first seven-shots period of training camp went to the offense, 5-2.
Pickett connected with Anthony McFarland on a flat to the left for a score two plays after he threw his touchdown to Robinson. Mitch Trubisky rushed for a TD and threw one each to Gunner Olszewski and Dez Fitzpatrick.
• T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig were consistently in the backfield Friday. Herbig has impressed in both days of camp, showing nice get-off and a twitchiness the Steelers coveted in the draft.
• Johnson walked off the field and took a cart up the the locker room during the 11-on-11 sessions. After practice, Mike Tomlin said Johnson exited practice because of "heat-related issues" and did not specify a concern for injury.
• DeMarvin Leal and Connor Heyward also left practice because of the same heat-related issues, according to Tomlin, but he said Leal returned.
• Joey Porter Jr. and Pickens got a physical during a seven-on-seven portion, as Pickens knocked Porter to the ground not long after getting off of the line of scrimmage, but Tomlin intervened before anything had a chance to boil into anything meaningful.
• Minkah Fitzpatrick did not practice for the second straight day, but there is still no concern for injury.
• Chris Boswell made all seven of his field goal attempts that I charted with a long make of 45 yards from the left hash. B.T. Potter made 6 of 7 and missed a 41-yarder from the left hash, wide right. I did not chart any punts today as there were none kicked on the main field.
