Quite a few notable Pittsburgh Steelers players sat out the team’s first padded training camp practice of 2019 and list includes quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, center Maurkice Pouncey and inside linebacker Mark Barron. Roethlisberger and Pouncey were both given planned days off and based on what head coach Mike Tomlin said after Sunday’s practice ended, Barron was likely given a day off to rest his older bones as well.
“We gave some vet guys a day off; Ben, Pouncey, a few others,” Tomlin said after Sunday’s practice. “We’ll rotate some of those veteran guys through this process. Not only for their benefit, but probably more importantly for the benefit of the young guys. It gives them an opportunity to get additional reps and in many cases, that’s what they need. Not only to learn, but to show what they’re capable of. So it kinda serves two purposes.”
While Roethlisberger and Pouncey are both obviously longtime veterans that deserve planned days off during training camp. It’s interesting to see newcomer Barron get the same treatment just three days in, however. We’ll see if he resumes practicing on Monday and go from there. Regardless, Barron being held out on Sunday afforded rookie inside linebacker Devin Bush the chance to get more reps and that certainly can’t be considered a bad thing. Speaking of Bush, Tomlin was asked to give hid first impression of the team’s first-round draft pick this year following his first padded practice in the NFL.
“Again, I wasn’t watching him,” Tomlin said.” I was watching the group. He didn’t stand out negatively. I imagine he did some really good things today. We’ll take a look at the tape.”
Who will Tomlin give off on Thursday? Perhaps veteran cornerback Joe Haden and guard Ramon Foster will be sat down a day. We’ll see and Tomlin hasn’t indicated.
As for a few players who have missed camp practice time due to injuries such as outside linebacker T.J. Watt and wide receiver Johnny Holton, it’s a good bet both won’t be ready to practice on Monday. Watt is still on Active PUP with a hamstring injury and Holton is also now sidelined with the same ailment as of Saturday. safety Sean Davis might also be out a few forthcoming practices as well after leaving Sundays session with what’s believed to be a dislocated finger on his right hand. Rookie cornerback Alexander Myres also seems to still be sidelined with an unknown injury since camp got underway. He’s yet to be seen on the practice field.
