With Steelers rookie minicamp taking place this weekend, other than the quarterback, who are the players to look out for? By the sounds of it, we should anticipate minimal reporting, at least from the outside. Beat writers are indicating practices will be less open than under Mike Tomlin, but the Steelers have in-house media, too.
And surely, at some point, we will hear something about somebody. The Steelers are a pretty big deal in Pittsburgh, and rookie minicamp is the first look at the rookies. There are the obvious guys, like the linemen, WR Germie Bernard, and QB Drew Allar. But who is The Athletic Beat writer Mike DeFabo going to try to keep tabs on? He offered three names in particular, including one rookie college free agent.
The first name to keep an eye on in rookie minicamp was the Steelers’ fourth-round pick, Waden Wetjen. DeFabo, on The Yinziders podcast, wants to know how they intend to extract value from him, given his reputation as a return specialist. “Still, I want to know, what more can he do? What other roles do they imagine him in?”, he asked.
“To a similar extent, Eli Heidenreich”, he added, the next name on his Steelers rookie minicamp watchlist. “Was his best moment as a Steeler walking across the stage, or can he have a real shot to carve out a niche? I think part of that is, how creative is the new staff going to be? How much are they going to really open up the playbook?”.
The team drafted Heidenreich with their last pick in the seventh round. A Navy product, he has an intriguing athletic makeup, but it’s hard to project Navy’s offense, and the teams they play, to NFL productivity. The Steelers list him as both a running back and wide receiver; will he do both during rookie minicamp?
Among the six rookie college free agents the Steelers signed who will be at rookie minicamp is DL Kevin Jobity Jr. Between him and TE Lake McRee, they have been the most-discussed of this group. But DeFabo sees “an opportunity” for him to potentially crack this defensive line rook.
Speaking of the Steelers’ rational for signing him, he said, “‘This guy tests off the charts. He’s massive, he’s athletic, he’s explosive. Let’s just see what he is about’”. At 6-4, 308 pounds and 33 1/4-inch arms, he has the build of a Steelers defensive lineman. But with one productive season at the college level, is that his launching point or his peak?
Of course, there will be plenty of other intriguing storylines at the Steelers’ rookie minicamp. How much we get to hear about them, that remains a question. With a new regime, everything is new, including how they handle the media regarding practice.
So, as a website that covers the Steelers, the storyline I’m most interested in from rookie minicamp is how many storylines we get. And not just how many, but from where. I’m sure the team’s own website will produce content. And not to besmirch their reputation, as Teresa Varley and company do a fine job, no question about it. But it’s still an asset to get observations and answers to questions from impartial journalists.
Recommended for you