Football in shorts season is getting closer for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the team announced the dates of their 2017 OTA practices on Thursday.
Phase One of the Steelers annual OTA sessions will get under way in Pittsburgh on Monday, April 18 and that period will span for a length of two weeks. During that phase, the player’s activities will be limited to strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only.
As usual, the next offseason event on the calendar for the Steelers will be their rookie minicamp and that will take place in Pittsburgh on May 6-8, the first weekend after the 2016 NFL Draft takes place.
Phase Two of the Steelers OTA sessions, which begins on Monday, May 1, will be a three-week period and during that time, on-field workouts are permitted that may include individual player instruction and drills. No live contact, or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted during that span of three weeks. The Steelers rookie minicamp will also take place during that phase but the team has yet to announce the dates.
Phase Three of the Steelers OTA sessions begins on Monday, May 22 this year. During that period of time the team will be allowed to conduct as many as 10 practices with the first one scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 23. Once again, no live contact is permitted during those OTA practices, however, 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are allowed to take place per the rules in the CBA.
According to the team’s schedule, the specific dates for the 10 OTA practices are May 23, May 24, May 25, May 30, May 31 June 1, June 5, June 6, June 7, and June 8. After those practices conclude, the team will wrap up their offseason program with a mandatory three-day minicamp and those dates have yet to be announced.
