PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers took the field for the first time as a collective (minus T.J. Watt) on Tuesday. Aaron Rodgers took up most of the headlines, but plenty else was thrown around at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
So, this is what we learned from the first day of mandatory minicamp:
How to fix JPJ’s penalties
When Joey Porter Jr. talked at OTAs, he noted the penalties this year had to go. Darius Slay is around to mentor him, which will help, but Porter’s defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander has the fix to his issues. When asked what Porter’s biggest problem was, Alexander noted technique and trust deeper into the route rather than at the line of scrimmage.
“There’s a process to having success within a given play and obviously not dealing with an error of penalizing yourself due to maybe a lack of technique within the route. Joey does a great job. I think he’s one of the elite guys at the line of scrimmage as far as disrupting releases and getting hands-on and stuff like that. And so it’s really post that. It’s not necessarily getting aggressive beyond that combative stage within that five yards, and now it’s just time for just to trust his transition, trust his process, trust his coverage ability, and then obviously when he’s in a position to be able to defend the ball down the field, it’s getting his eyes up and challenging that and going for the ball instead of trying to think about how do I keep the receiver from not receiving the ball,” Alexander said.
In addition, Porter’s mental ability to move on from penalties needs to improve. Last year, 14 of the 17 penalties called on Porter were in four games, with ten of those coming against Tee Higgins.
Alexander says some of those struggles can be mental, and he is working with Porter to change his mindset on a given play.
“A lot of the elimination of those things comes in the form of how do we develop and continue to detail some of the technique, and that’s within covering the route, the top of the route transitions or routes going down the field, making sure that we’re getting our eyes back and playing the ball and not necessarily playing the receiver, especially when we’re in good positions to do so. So some of that stuff can be mental, and some of the things that I always say is, you know, you want to play to win versus play not to lose. And so I try to get those guys to understand the mentality that it takes in order to be able to play the ball down the field and not so much worry about if the receiver catches it. And you’re not thinking about failure. You’re thinking about how do I put myself in position to finish this play versus preventing him from making one,” Alexander said.
The Steelers hope to see Porter turn the corner in that area this year, and Alexander has a clear plan set out to change that.
Benton’s rise
Keeanu Benton weighs around 310 pounds to enter this season, the weight he has played at for most of his NFL career. Defensive line coach Karl Dunbar says that is an ideal weight for Benton, who will stick at nose tackle.
Dunbar cited Javon Hargrave, who played most of his time at 295 pounds with the Steelers. Hargrave ended up leaving Pittsburgh and making a lot of money in the NFL.
“310 pounds is the perfect weight for Keeanu,” Dunbar said. “We had a 295 pound nose tackle in (Javon) Hargrave before, and he made a whole lot of money in the NFL.”
That is light for a traditional nose tackle, but Benton is a ‘dancing bear’ type that can play up and down the line. The Steelers do want to see Benton finish plays better, though.
“He puts a ton of hits on the quarterback. His sack productivity should go way up. But until you put the skins on the wall, nothing counts,” Dunbar said.
Payton Wilson’s jump
The Steelers would love to see Payton Wilson become the team’s next star on defense, but he must embrace some areas of growth.
Inside linebackers coach Scott McCurley believes a lot of that improvement comes from understanding the run game at a deeper level, especially with the bulkier frame Wilson now carries at 243 pounds.
“It’s just getting experience in the run game, understanding where his fits are, the looks from the offense, how they’re going to block him, where the blocks are coming from, how to put myself in position to play off blocks and finish on the ball,” McCurley said.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin sees Wilson rounding into shape. The team knows Wilson is a dynamic athlete in space and can become a force multiplier in pass coverage.
Now, it is about ensuring that they do not compromise their run defense with him out on the field.
“I think his willingness to learn and understand areas that he was a little deficient in, in terms of coming downhill and taking on box. He didn’t really have to do that much in college, and he’s gotten better at that as the year went on last year, and he knows that scenario to work on. I think you have a really conscientious player who has the work ethic and the drive to do it. He’ll get it done,” Austin said.
Backup nose tackle?
The Steelers’ plan for the backup nose tackle remains a bit of a mystery, and Dunbar sheds some light on it with two potential answers. First, rookie Yahya Black seems to factor into that role. Dunbar said Black was just playing at 4i for right now, but will play all over the line of scrimmage in his rookie season.
“He can play all over the defensive line,” Dunbar said. “You know, he’ll play over the center, he’ll play at 4i. Right now, he is working at 4i, but we think he can play all over the place.”
Another player who can play all over the place is Daniel Ekuale, the team’s free-agent addition from New England. Dunbar sees Ekuale as someone who could fill that void, too.
As for who the true answer is behind Benton, that is not quite known, and it will be a bit of a competition, but those two names seem to be at the forefront.
Communication to the forefront
Steelers defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander came into Pittsburgh with the idea he would immediately improve the team’s communication on the back end. That seems to have started, as the Steelers are working on the basic and complex in the spring.
To execute both of those ideas, the Steelers are ensuring a nonverbal communication system is set up so the same issues do not plague them this year as they did down the stretch.
“I know that that is a huge focus on our process now. It’s just to make sure that the communication is streamlined. The givers and the receivers of the communication understand exactly what’s going on, so we can make sure that we have a chance to have success,” Alexander said.
That is no surprise, as communication is a basic thing that Mike Tomlin requires from his defenses. The Steelers will not let those issues hinder them, and it seems that is at least what made them play so vanilla a year ago.
Other notes
Aaron Rodgers said Connor Heyward had a good day on Tuesday. And he was not lying. Heyward was all over the place, making big-time grabs. That’s a good first impression for him.
Alexander and Austin both talked about Minkah Fitzpatrick making more plays this year. Well, that could certainly happen, and if it does, Tuesday was a great launching pad. Fitzpatrick had three interceptions in Tuesday’s practice, he confirmed.
DK Metcalf looks huge in person. You can’t believe he is a wide receiver. It is stunning sometimes. He eats up so much ground in one stride.
Austin said the Steelers will have a competition between Malik Harrison and Cole Holcomb for the ILB3 spot, and whoever wins that spot will likely play a significant amount of snaps.
Really good first practice for Juan Thornhill. The Steelers love his versatility, but he was all over the ball on Tuesday.
Mason Rudolph took the news of Rodgers signing graciously. The Steelers were upfront when he signed about their pursuit of Rodgers and other quarterbacks, so this was no surprise.
Brandon Johnson is someone to think about when making your wide receiver roster predictions, especially if you think they will not add someone else. He has more of a roster shot than you’d expect. Totally going under the radar.