The hitting starts on Monday for the Steelers and the rest of the NFL.
Everything to this point taking place at what has counted at training camp at Heinz Field has essentially been what the Steelers would normally do in the eight or so weeks of offseason workouts that typically take place in a normal offseason.
Typically, however once training camp begins at Saint Vincent College, the Steelers open with two solid weeks of hitting. They tackle. They go live with team running drills.
Mike Tomlin has now done that for the better part of the past decade.
The question for Tomlin will be how much hitting is enough? Or, perhaps more importantly, how much is too much?
Tomlin plans on having live hitting next week. He has to. With only 14 padded practices and no preseason games with which to both get his team ready to play a regular season and judge which young players might be able to help this roster, Tomlin has to have the Steelers at least simulate live action.
“That is our intent, but we are also willing to adjust based on what it is that we see,” Tomlin said. “From a staffing standpoint, we are very thoughtful about our long-term planning or not doing so. Getting familiar with the level of conditioning that these guys are coming to us in and getting a feel for their ability to take in and retain information that was delivered to them remotely are two of the key variables that determine the pace at which we move.”
Translation? The plan is to hit, but the hitting might not last all that long. And they’ll be very cognizant, even more so than usual, of who will be going live.
The Steelers have less than a month before they open the regular season Sept. 15 at MetLife Stadium against the Giants. Tomlin typically starts to scale things back after the second week of training camp.
This year, the hitting will just be starting when the Steelers are usually starting to relax that part of their practices.
Veteran players, even those who thrive on contact, realize the live periods are necessary.
“We have to find a way to evaluate these guys without preseason guys because a lot of the young guy — just from a strictly evaluation standpoint — we don’t know what they can do,” Vince Williams said. “Physicality may be a trait that a lot of guys lean on that they may not have a lot of opportunities to display that. I am pretty sure — I am pretty confident Coach Tomlin will find a way to get it done.”
But that doesn’t mean they necessarily want to take part in it.
“It is a catch-22,” Williams conceded. “But if he asks me, I am going to say we need less padded days.”
They can’t have fewer padded days than the 14 they’ll have with which to prepare for this season.
It’s never been done before in NFL history. But this is the environment in which the NFL is trying to play a season in a COVID-19 world.
For the Steelers, who have just a couple of open spots in the starting lineup that will be filled by players who have been with the team for several years, it might not be the issue that it will be for other teams.
“I think it will be positive for us because we are a veteran team,” said David DeCastro. “Honestly, I think the training camp and all those preseason games are for younger guys. I don’t think it takes much for us to get in shape as a veteran group. The older you get, less is more because you don’t need that pounding on your body. I think it bodes well for us offense and defensive-wise. We have some good depth, too. I am actually excited about that.”
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