The three practice sessions, of course, are important. But to coach Mike Tomlin, rookie minicamp weekend is about so much more in regards to the newest (and the potentially newest) members of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We got some on-field work and development of skill relative to the positions that they play,” Tomlin said Saturday after the second practice, “but it’s also just an introduction to the organization. We had a rookie dinner (Friday) night. We gave them a tour of the (Steelers Hall of Honor Museum at Acrisure Stadium), for example.
“So there’s an education going on on a lot of fronts, and it’s fun to get to know the guys and how they learn their talents, how their body works, how they take in information, how to communicate.”
The camp roster includes 45 players — 20 of which under contract and 25 on hand in a tryout capacity. All but 10 are officially classified as rookies, though most of the others have never appeared in an NFL regular-season game. Typically, at most only a small handful of the tryouts are signed in advance of when the veterans begin taking part in organized team activities beginning May 27.
Sunday’s rookie camp practice is closed to media.
“Obviously, we are at ground zero,” Tomlin said, “but it’s a great opportunity to get better, and they’ve been really engaged. So, the process has been fun.”
Kicking up a friendship
Ben Sauls and Chris Boswell had a preexisting relationship. Now, they’re teammates.
“We both appreciated the fact we’re kickers in Pittsburgh playing at (Acrisure Stadium),” Sauls said Saturday. “Obviously, that’s not easy.”
It’s not — but after four seasons of doing so for Pitt, Sauls again is on track to kick at the stadium on the North Shore. Sauls joins Boswell as the kickers the Steelers will carry on their 90-man preseason and training camp roster.
Boswell, 34, is entering his 11th season as the Steelers’ primary kicker. He’s coming off arguably his best season, getting named first-team AP NFL All Pro.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to pick his ear and learn from the best,” Sauls said. “You can’t get that anywhere else. … So, to be able to do that, I’m extremely excited about.”
One thing Boswell and Sauls have not yet discussed is that they have the two longest field goals kicked in a game during the 24 years of history at what used to be called Heinz Field: Sauls hit from 58 yards this past season, Boswell had a 59-yarder during an October 2022.
“That’s always part of the resume, sure,” Sauls said. “That 58 was a big-time kick for me — but now, it’s in the past. It’s on to the next kick. It could be a 25-yarder, it could be a 58-yarder. Hopefully, it’s 60; who knows? But it’s about a clean slate, starting new.”
‘The Tank’ hopes to stick
Thomas Perry might or might not go on to an NFL career. But barely two weeks into being a pro and even before he’s signed a contract, Perry has already become the rare player who’s seen both sides of one of the NFL’s most intense rivalries.
A week after taking part in the Baltimore Ravens’ rookie minicamp, Perry was with the Steelers at theirs.
“We’ll see how it turns out,” said Perry, a 6-foot-2, 311-pound guard out of Middlebury College whose nickname is “Thomas the Tank.”
Hailing from the Division III school in Vermont and having likewise grown up in New England (Killingworth, Conn.), Perry’s father is something of an unlikely Steelers fan. Perry said he watched All Pro interior Steelers linemen Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro.
“I love how physical they were,” he said.
Perry was regarded as a quality enough prospect that the NFL’s official website devoted a page to him and deemed him worthy of being a “priority free agent.” But a signing such as that — typically done in the immediate hours after the draft ends — did not happen.
Perry, a Division III all-American, is undeterred.
“I love the little guy,” Perry said. “I love the underdog.”