Home 2014 NFL Draft Steelers’ Rookie Camp Offering a Glimpse of the Future

Steelers’ Rookie Camp Offering a Glimpse of the Future

by Steeldad

ArcherThe Pittsburgh Steelers three-day rookie mini-camp was held this past weekend on the South Side and of the 52 players taking part, only a handful know they will be brought back in August. Along with this year’s draft picks and undrafted free agents, one-year players were also allowed to take part.

Some of those included running back Alvester Alexander, wide receiver Justin Brown and punter Brad Wing who signed in the offseason. The real stars of this rookie camp are the draftees though. 

All eyes were guys like Ryan Shazier, Stephon Tuitt and Dri Archer as well as several other rookies. Below is a compilation of news bits that came from the three-day and my thoughts on them.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports

Rookie linebacker Jordan Zumwalt saw the bulk of his action at outside linebacker and that makes perfect sense in my opinion. The team is short there and Zumwalt provides significantly different version of what the Steelers have used there is recent years. Zumwalt has great experience with 3-4 having played in college.

Dri Archer did not return punts in college but he is working on it now with the Steelers.

Zumwalt and fellow rookie Shaquille Richardson will miss significant portions of the team’s OTA’s because rules prohibit them from doing so when their school’s term is still in session. The same situation plagued Markus Wheaton last year.

Martavis Bryant took a tumble on Friday and didn’t practice on Saturday. 

Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweeted...

He thought UDFA quarterback Brandon Kay from Cincinnati already looked more accurate than Landry Jones did all of last year. I’m not going to take that bait. 

He said we shouldn’t worry about Dri Archer fielding punts. “Kid catches everything” tweeted Kaboly.

He also tweeted that Archer and Shazier are as advertised- super fast.

One final note that came out of this weekend’s rookie camp was that new defensive assistant Joey Porter was graduating from Colorado State this weekend. Congrats to him!

What we need to keep in mind about this rookie camp is that this is nothing more than opportunity for coaches to get their eyes on their players. It’s mostly drills and technique work. Regardless, it’s an important time for all involved.

OTA’s start in just nine more days.

Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard weekly on Trib-Live Radio talking Steelers and is a blogger for ESPN 970 in Pittsburgh.

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