The Pittsburgh Steelers have wrapped up their Tuesday practice at Latrobe, so here is a recap of the day as reported via the media and on Twitter.
The day started with the announcement that tackle Max Starks was being removed from the PUP list. Due to the new rules in the CBA, he will not be allowed to practice until Friday, so he continues to work on the side with the other players still on the PUP list. Head coach Mike Tomlin was asked after practice if Starks could possibly play Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts and he would only say that it depends on how he looks. Most of the general consensus remains that Starks will not play this weekend, but could see his first preseason action in the third preseason game against the Buffalo Bills at the earliest. Right now everything seems to be day-to-day with Starks.
It was announced around mid day that running back John Clay was waived injured with a torn quad and that former Illinois running back Jason Ford was signed to take his spot on the 90 man roster. Ford only was able to watch practice due to the new CBA rules and the same goes for tight end Justin Peelle, who was signed late on Monday to take the roster spot of David Johnson, who was also waived injured. Both Johnson and Clay will be placed on injured reserve after they clear waivers.
Due to the injuries, Ken Laird reported today that tight end Jamie McCoy is now working with the running backs, so it appears he will be the second team fullback behind new starter Will Johnson as the Steelers head into their weekend game against the Colts.
Guard Doug Legursky (quad), tackle Mike Adams (knee) and punter Jeremy Kapinos (back) all missed practice on Tuesday. Running backs Isaac Redman (groin) and Jonathan Dwyer (shoulder) were both limited on Tuesday according to Tomlin after practice. Dwyer was reportedly very limited and held out of all contact drills.
Marcus Gilbert continues to work at left tackle with the first team and Ramon Foster continues to get first team reps at right tackle. Both players also continue to get reps at their original spots as well. When that takes place, Trai Essex takes over at left tackle.
Laird reported that the second team offensive line on Tuesday left to right was Kelvin Beachum, Ryan Lee, John Malecki, Chris Scott and Essex. We shall see if that stands up Sunday night as it appears that Legursky might very well be inactive for the Sunday night game.
Another scuffle took place again on Tuesday between Beachum and defensive end Cameron Heyward.
Some highlights from the Tuesday practice included rookie tight end David Paulson catching a pass deep down the middle over Lawrence Timmons. Rookie running back Chris Rainey reportedly was working on his blitz pickup during the practice. Linebacker Brandon Johnson was calling the second defensive signals according to David Todd. Todd also reported that it was a good day for the backup receivers on Tuesday that are battling for a roster spot. He noted specifically a nice leaping catch by Marquis Maze and Tyler Beiler was noted by Laird as beating Ike Taylor on an out route which led to Taylor dropping 10 consecutive F-bombs.
Mike Prisuta reported that the first team offense was asked to go 58 yards in 1:39 with one timeout for a touchdown during the two-minute drill segment and they succeeded as Ben Roethlisberger hit Jerricho Cotchery for a 17 yard touchdown. Cotchery reportedly beat safety Ryan Clark on the play. On the drive, Roethlisberger was listed by Prisuta as going 5-for-8 passing for 53 yards. Prisuta also noted that the defense jumped offside on 4th-and-1 from the 22 during the drill, just before the touchdown pass. Rainey was included in the drill at running back that included Heath Miller at tight end along with Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and Cotchery all at wide receiver.
