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Lady Steel
05-09-2015, 06:59 PM
The Steelers will complete their three-day rookie minicamp on Sunday, May 10.


It can accurately be called an introduction, because it’s the first time the vast majority of them have been inside the building, but what’s happening this weekend at the Steelers’ practice facility isn’t so much an exposure to professional football, because of who’s in attendance. Or more accurately, who’s not in attendance.

Rookie minicamp began for these 55-plus hopefuls and wannabes on Friday and by the time it ends tomorrow they will have gone through five on-field sessions and probably twice as many meetings. Coach Mike Tomlin sees value in that.

“We are football junkies. We love it all,” said Tomlin. “It’s good to be out here on the grass and kind of start the process for 2015. It’s always exciting when we get the new draft picks and free agents. As a coaching staff, we go through changes during the course of the offseason, and this is the first opportunity for us to take the grass together. So there are a lot of things to be excited about in circumstances like this, and I generally believe that we all are.”

There was no lack of energy among the participants, but without the veterans on hand, the on-field perception these players are getting of NFL football is skewed.

A cornerback who was a draft pick might line up and successfully cover a wide receiver attending on a tryout basis, but does he understand how different the experience is going to be when the receiver opposite him is Antonio Brownhttp://www.steelers.com/assets/nflimg/icon-article-link.gif (http://www.steelers.com/team/roster/antonio-brown/859114e9-d70b-477b-8eaf-6f34bb1ffc03/)? A safety might anticipate a pass route and be able to make a play on a throw by an undrafted rookie quarterback this weekend, but what happens when the ball is coming out of Ben Roethlisbergerhttp://www.steelers.com/assets/nflimg/icon-article-link.gif (http://www.steelers.com/team/roster/ben-roethlisberger/54dda34e-9e43-4c57-9397-1143ddced5d6/)’s hand?

That’s why evaluations at this stage of the process are difficult to provide and largely meaningless if they are. Tomlin understands this, and so he uses this weekend for other things.

“We are taking an instructional approach to this camp, just giving and receiving the information and seeing how people learn,” said Tomlin. “We are watching how people control their bodies and how they move, and we are laying a foundation for our football team, individually and collectively. It’s been good thus far. The attention to detail has been good by all the guys. They are working extremely hard.

“They are doing a nice job of not only working hard but working smart, and they are observing our approach to practice in the year that we are in. Of course, it’s helmets only, so from that standpoint it’s been a highly productive weekend. There are not a lot of evaluations at this point. Obviously, you guys know that I am not into evaluating football in shorts.”




http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/3-days-of-instruction-not-evaluation/b91c7f63-03e1-4b42-9754-777021fddc1a

ALLD
05-10-2015, 07:49 AM
Maybe Tomlin is getting a second wind. A little change in coaching staff might have done him some good.

86WARD
05-10-2015, 05:14 PM
Maybe Tomlin is getting a second wind. A little change in coaching staff might have done him some good.

I could only hope...he has been God awful the last two seasons IMO...nothing would make me happier to have to eat crow on the topic of Mike Tomlin...

hawaiiansteeler
05-10-2015, 09:49 PM
I could only hope...he has been God awful the last two seasons IMO...

even last season?

86WARD
05-11-2015, 05:32 AM
even last season?

Most of it...yes. I feel like they were somewhat successful despite Tomlin.