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Steelers OTAs Takeaways: Still No Kenny Pickett in QB Battle

At what point do the Pittsburgh Steelers give Kenny Pickett an actual shot?

Noah Strackbein

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PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs is in the books, and even if helmets and shorts only gives you so much, it was an exciting two weeks at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. 

The Steelers opened their quarterback competition, let the world know about Kendrick Green and Kevin Dotson battling for left guard, and gave everyone glances at their new players for the first time.

Plus, some dude with a megaphone got his point across about investing in businesses. 

We're all sad to see it end, but we're one step closer to football season. Minicamp starts next week, but first, this is what we learned in Day 6 of OTAs. 

Mason Rudolph Getting Athletic

Mason Rudolph keeps saying he's built for Matt Canada's offense. We don't know a whole ton about what that offense is, but we're pretty sure it includes a mobile quarterback.

And out of the four on the roster, Rudolph is the least mobile. 

So, he's out to prove he's got the goods when it comes to moving. He's been working on moving outside the pocket, and got a little fancy during two-minute drills. 

Again, we can't get into specifics outside of what players confirm. We can't say what happened during the play or what the throw was. Let's just say Rudolph got mobile. And it was noteworthy.

Steelers Wideouts Playing Big Man Football as Little Guys

The Steelers wide receiver room has Chase Claypool, George Pickens and Cody White. Everyone else seems like they're well under six-foot, but that doesn't matter. 

Calvin Austin talked with me about a sideline grab he made that looked like any big man receiver would make. This isn't the first time one of the little guys made a play like that during OTAs. 

He told me the term "slot receiver" might be outdated, and that he's thrilled to be here because this offense isn't putting any of the "little guys" in a box. 

"You can tell with our group alone, we feed off each other. All the guys in the room are capable of, if we have a return route, getting in and out of the breaks, we all are capable of doing that efficiently," Austin said. "It makes it when you're watching someone else, 'Okay, I see what he's doing. Let me detail that more.' Having everyone having that same skill set allows us to grow more and more because we all know what we need to do and how it should look."

Still No Opportunity for Kenny Pickett

The Steelers are still running more Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph and less Kenny Pickett and Chris Oladokun. Who knows why the rookies are getting their shot in this QB battle, but it certainly seems like a dull competition to me. 

Maybe the team is focusing on Pickett and Oladokun learning the offense before putting them with bigger names during drills. It just seems odd that their first-round pick is throwing passes to the fourth-string receiver while Rudolph and Trubisky are working with the ones. 

Minicamp starts next week. Hopefully something changes. 

Alumni Day

How did I almost forget about alumni day at OTAs? The Steelers had plenty of legends standing around and chatting with current players, and playing the "guess who that guy is" game was, as always, the biggest topic to start the day. 

The list I assembled consisted of: 

  • Ryan Shazier
  • Mel Blount
  • Jon Kolb
  • Will Allen
  • Chris Hoke
  • Larry Brown
  • Mike Tomczak

There were definitely more in attendance that I didn't catch. It's pretty awesome getting a chance to chat it up with Pittsburgh legends and watch some football. 

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Noah Strackbein
NOAH STRACKBEIN

Noah is the Publisher for All Steelers, Inside the Panthers (InsideThePanthers.com) and Inside the Penguins (InsidethePenguins.com), and is the host of All Steelers Talk (YouTube.com/AllSteelersTalk). A Scranton native, Noah made his way to the Pittsburgh sports scene in 2017. Now, he's pretty much full-yinzer.

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