Joe Rutter stories, Page 40
Steelers notebook: Rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. sits out preseason opener with calf injury
TAMPA, Fla. — Joey Porter Jr.’s professional football debut will have to wait another week. Porter, the North Allegheny grad from Penn State and the first pick of the second round, was scratched from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason opener Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium....
Steelers looking for healthy bodies to play safety when they open preseason at Tampa BayVideo
Based on the players who practiced — and the ones who didn’t suit up — Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be depleted at safety when they open the preseason in two nights at Tampa Bay. Keanu Neal and Damontae Kazee, who are listed as co-starters on coach Mike Tomlin’s initial...
Mike Tomlin: All healthy players will see action in Steelers’ preseason opener
Mike Tomlin acknowledged the obvious Wednesday when he said that second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett will need more preseason snaps this year than, say, a more seasoned quarterback. As far as how many more reps Pickett might need, Tomlin wasn’t ready to answer that question. The Pittsburgh Steelers open the preseason...
Steelers’ Herbig brothers enjoy family affair with defensive tackle Keeanu Benton
Nate and Nick Herbig can be forgiven if they would like to make a correction to the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp roster. Along with Cameron and Connor Heyward, they are listed as the only other set of brothers among the 90 players training daily at Saint Vincent. But, in their...
QB Kenny Pickett on ‘go’ as Steelers work toward preseason opener against Tampa Bay
Kenny Pickett doesn’t know how long he will be on the field Friday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers open the preseason at Tampa Bay. The only thing for certain is he won’t be throwing passes in the final seconds of the game, which happened last year when he zipped a...
Healthy Calvin Austin taking steps to becoming more well-rounded WR for Steelers
Barring the same type of unexpected — and unfortunate — injury that ruined his rookie season, wide receiver Calvin Austin will make his professional debut Friday night for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After suffering a foot injury on the eve of the 2022 preseason opener, Austin eventually needed surgery and spent...
No rookies named starters as Steelers unveil initial depth chart of preseasonVideo
With their first preseason game looming in five days, the Pittsburgh Steelers had to release their first depth chart of training camp, per NFL rules. The one coach Mike Tomlin unveiled Sunday night did not contain any surprises. None of the team’s rookie draft picks showed up on the first...
Steelers’ inside the ropes: Defense carries the day, twice stops 2-minute offenseVideo
All of the daily repetitions the Pittsburgh Steelers put in during “seven shots” to open practice paid off for the defense at the end of Sunday’s session. The defense came up with red-zone stops against Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky in the two-minute scenario that concluded the two-hour workout at...
Steelers daily practice report: Pads come off as team wraps up longest stretch of training campVideo
The Pittsburgh Steelers ended a run of six consecutive practice days Sunday with a two-hour practice that concluded with a light rain dusting the Saint Vincent fields. The elements were less of a concern to coach Mike Tomlin than the approach his players took to the final session before a...
Time spent at Georgia has helped Broderick Jones take patient approach to winning job with SteelersVideo
As the first preseason game approaches for the Pittsburgh Steelers, top draft pick Broderick Jones continues to run second string at his position. Sure, Jones has taken the occasional first-team rep at left tackle in place of Dan Moore, and he worked there exclusively for a day when right tackle...
Kenny Pickett taking more ‘ownership’ of Steelers offense during training campVideo
In his first training camp, as a rookie quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kenny Pickett was content on being conservative with his pass attempts, opting to check down to a running back if his first receiving option wasn’t open. With a year that included 12 starts in his back pocket,...
Kendrick Green gets more reps at fullback as Steelers explore center’s versatilityVideo
After making his NFL training camp debut at fullback, Kendrick Green didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes raised about a repeat performance. Not even after the 6-foot-1, 315-pound center caught a pass and had two noteworthy blocks in the three reps he took in the backfield Friday night when the...
After rainout last year, Steelers players embrace return of Friday Night Lights practice
On a day when the temperature reached the mid-80s and the Pittsburgh Steelers put the pads in storage, coach Mike Tomlin gave several of his veteran players the day off. Perhaps Tomlin wanted to have everybody available for one of the most anticipated practices of the year: the annual Friday...
With Steelers minus a fullback, Connor Heyward ready to take on extra workload
One minute, Connor Heyward saw fullback Monte Pottebaum talking to general manager Omar Khan outside the locker room. The next, Pottebaum was gone from the Saint Vincent campus, his NFL career over before he had a chance to wear pads. Pottebaum’s sudden retirement from football — and the Pittsburgh Steelers...
Steelers’ inside the ropes: Anthony McFarland shows off speed in mismatch with linebackers
On a day when the Pittsburgh Steelers had linebackers assigned to stopping running backs in pass coverage, nobody could keep up with Anthony McFarland. Back for a fourth training camp with the Steelers after spending most of last year on the practice squad, the 5-foot-8, 193-pound McFarland showcased his speed...
Steelers camp report: DE DeMarvin Leal escapes serious ankle injury in 1-on-1 drillVideo
For the second day in a row, it looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers might lose a promising young player to a serious injury. One day after rookie cornerback Cory Trice left on a cart with a right knee injury that landed him on injured reserve, second-year defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal...
Steelers rookie cornerback Cory Trice placed on injured reserve, ending his season
Cornerback Cory Trice’s rookie season is over essentially before it started. Trice, who hurt his right leg and was removed from the field on a cart Tuesday, was placed on injured reserve Wednesday with what coach Mike Tomlin called a “significant knee injury,” ending his season. Trice, the team’s seventh-round...
Steelers rookies Darnell Washington, Joey Porter put to test on 1st day of practice in padsVideo
It would be understandable if an NFL rookie had a sleepless night on the eve of his first practice in pads, the day in training camp when tempers and expectations flare a few notches. That wasn’t the case for Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington. “For me, I’ve got to...
Steelers’ Diontae Johnson at ease as he puts touchdown-less streak, contract behind him
In multiple ways, Diontae Johnson reported to Pittsburgh Steelers training camp this year with a clean slate and a fresh perspective. From a financial standpoint, he was unburdened by the contract negotiations that carried out through the first week of the 2022 training camp before he received a two-year extension....
Steelers tasked with fitting 3 inside linebackers on field with addition of Kwon AlexanderVideo
Forget about a two dogs-one bone scenario — Mike Tomlin’s terminology for two players competing for one job — taking place at inside linebacker this summer for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Where that ever-expanding position group is concerned, it’s more like three dogs competing for two bones. The signing of Kwon...
Steelers safety Damontae Kazee to miss time with ankle injury: ‘I have to slow down’
After injuring his ankle in practice a day earlier, Pittsburgh Steelers veteran safety Damontae Kazee wore a walking boot Sunday and said it could be a while before he returns to the fields at Saint Vincent College. Kazee indicated that, with a cautious approach, he could be out for a...
Steelers inside the ropes: On soggy day, Hakeem Butler holds onto ball, makes playsVideo
Despite being a highly regarded prospect and fourth-round draft pick, Hakeem Butler never has caught a pass in an NFL game. If the 27-year-old wide receiver continues to play like he did Saturday in his third practice of training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he might get a chance to...
Steelers practice report: Minkah Fitzpatrick excused by Mike Tomlin for personal matterVideo
Minkah Fitzpatrick did not practice for the third day in a row at the outset of training camp for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unlike the first two practices, Fitzpatrick wasn’t wearing a floppy hat and watching from the field while his teammates practiced Saturday. Coach Mike Tomlin said that he has...
4 Super Bowl champion players join Steelers Hall of Honor in Class of ’23Video
If you didn’t have multiple Super Bowl rings, you weren’t a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Class of 2023 for the franchise’s Hall of Honor. Four former players were selected to join the exclusive fraternity Saturday, with two representing the super Steelers from the 1970s and two from this century’s...
George Pickens expects to see more targets in Steelers’ evolving deep passing game
George Pickens said it was no coincidence that, on the first play of training camp for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kenny Pickett dropped back and threw deep down the sideline. Or that Pickens was the intended target. “I just feel like that is an explosive hint,” Pickens said Thursday, “that we’re...
