The Pittsburgh Steelers completed their first OTA practice on Tuesday and here are a few tidbits that aren’t likely to show up in print that were passed along by Trib Live Radio, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Steelers Nation Radio.
During the seven shots drill, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had scoring tosses to wide receiver Marcus Wheaton, running back DeAngelo Williams and tight end end Jesse James. He also was reportedly intercepted once by cornerback Ross Cockrell.
When Landry Jones took over, a completed pass to running back Daryl Richardson resulted in him getting drilled by linebacker Vince Williams. Anybody surprised by that? Williams loves football in shorts. Cornerback Artie Burns reportedly intercepted a pass in end zone and Jones connected with undrafted wide receiver Canaan Severin for a score.
Sitting out on Tuesday were tight end Ladarius Green (ankle), safety Mike Mitchell (shoulder), linebacker James Harrison (old age), kicker Shaun Suisham (knee) and wide receiver Antonio Brown (DWTS).
Robert Golden and Shamarko Thomas were the starting safeties on Tuesday while William Gay manned the right cornerback position opposite Senquez Golson. It appears as though Golson is going to be given every opportunity to win a starting spot outside. Burns backed up Gay on the right while Cockrell reportedly backed up Golson on the left.
Wheaton reportedly expects to play more on the outside in the short term, filling the role of suspended wide receiver Martavis Bryant. It also sounds like Sammie Coates might be pressed to play a lot of slot this year. We’ll see.
The big news Tuesday was that center Maurkice Pouncey and running back Le’Veon Bell were both actively practicing even though the latter was limited to individual work.
