For a final time this summer, we’re compiling our training camp stats, first from this last group of practices and then all the public practices we have data for. We’ll break things down at quarterback, running back, the receivers, and some drop/interception numbers too along with some takeaways. Let’s jump in.
Training Camp Stats (#13-16)
Quarterbacks
Kenny Pickett: 50/63 (79.4%) 424 yards (6.7 YPA) 6 TDs 1 INT – 8.5 YPC
Mason Rudolph: 42/63 (66.7%) 421 yards (6.7 YPA) 5 TDs 0 INTs – 10.0 YPC
Mitch Trubisky: 38/56 (67.9%) 347 yards (6.2 YPA) 6 TDs 1 INTs – 9.1 YPC
Chris Oladokun: 7/15 (46.7%) 46 yards (3.1 YPA) 1 TD 0 INTs – 6.6 YPC
– A very strong end to the process for Pickett who lapped the field with his completion percentage, recorded the highest YPA (it was slightly higher than Rudolph’s) and tied for the most touchdowns. His yards per completion was still a bit lower than the others but it’s shown improvement there, too.
– Chris Oladokun received team reps over the final two practices. His numbers match the eye test, accuracy was an issue, but understand he’s rusty not doing a ton during camp.
QB Reps
Kenny Pickett: 91 (18-20-28-25)
Mason Rudolph: 90 (13-23-28-26)
Mitch Trubisky: 80 (28-16-20-16)
Chris Oladokun: 19 (0-0-7-12)
– Pickett edges out Rudolph for the most reps by one. Don’t read much into Trubisky being third place. His reps decreased the final two practices during some scout team work, essentially replaced by Oladokun. Trubisky still had the most reps during practices 13 and 14 before they began gameplanning for the week.
Running Back Carries
Mataeo Durant: 17 carries, 19 yards (1.1 YPC)
Jaylen Warren: 14 carries, 29 yards (2.1 YPC) 1 TD
Najee Harris: 13 carries, 35 yards (2.7 YPC) 1 fumble (reception)
Benny Snell: 10 carries, 34 yards (3.4 YPC) 1 TD
Anthony McFarland: 4 carries, 20 yards (5.0 YPC)
Master Teague: 4 carries, 12 yards 1 TD (3.0 YPC)
Max Borghi: 4 carries, 2 yards 1 TD (0.5 YPC)
Steven Sims: 1 carry, 4 yards (4.0 YPC)
Gunner Olszewski: 1 carry, 0 yards (0.0 YPC)
– Pretty uneventful week for the running backs so don’t get too caught up in the yards per carry here. Interesting to note that with the group healthy, Jaylen Warren had more carries than Benny Snell while Anthony McFarland didn’t tote the rock much this week. Not the best sign for him going forward. Fewer jets and receiver runs this week, too.
CATCHES/TARGETS/YARDS/TOUCHDOWNS – CATCH %
Gunner Olszewski: 14/19 162 yards 1 TD – 73.7%
Tyler Snead: 10/18 74 yards 2 TDs – 55.6%
Connor Heyward: 15/16 89 yards 2 TDs – 93.8%
Pat Freiermuth: 13/16 103 yards 4 TDs – 81.3%
Tyler Vaughns: 10/16 112 yards 2 TDs – 62.5%
Cody White: 8/16 139 yards 1 TD – 50%
Christian Blake: 10/15 69 yards 1 TD – 66.7%
Diontae Johnson: 7/12 98 yards 1 TD – 58.3%
Jace Sternberger: 5/8 65 yards – 62.5%
George Pickens: 5/8 58 yards – 62.5%
Chase Claypool: 7/7 92 yards 1 TD – 100%
Steven Sims: 6/7 35 yards – 85.7%
Miles Boykin: 5/7 39 yards 2 TDs – 71.4%
Najee Harris: 5/6 27 yards – 83.3%
Zach Gentry: 3/5 20 yards – 60%
Anthony McFarland: 4/4 14 yards 1 TD – 100%
Kevin Rader: 2/4 11 yards – 50%
Jaylen Warren: 2/3 10 yards – 66.7%
Mataeo Durant: 2/3 5 yards – 66.7%
Max Borghi: 1/1 10 yards – 100%
Benny Snell: 1/1 4 yards – 100%
– It was the Gunner Olszewski show this week, catching most of those passes from Pickett. Connor Heyward balled out and in fact, caught his final 14 targets (there is one additional catch not included in the stats because I do not have yardage for it). Heyward’s catch rate was low leading up to this point, around 50%, but he picked it up in a major way to close camp.
– Good exclamation point for Pat Freiermuth, who was healthy all week and repeatedly found the end zone.
– Quieter end to things for George Pickens, though I wouldn’t be too worried about it.
Drops
Tyler Vaughns: 3
Kevin Rader: 2
Cody White: 1
Steven Sims: 1
– All three of Vaughns came in one day, a particularly rough practice.
Interceptions
Arthur Maulet: 1
Robert Spillane: 1
Here are the final camp numbers.
Training Camp Stats (All Practices Sans #2)
Mason Rudolph: 116/176 (65.9%) 1051 yards (6.0 YPA) 20 TDs 0 INTs – 9.1 YPC
Mitch Trubisky: 104/176 (59.1%) 933 yards (5.3 YPA) 20 TDs 5 INTs – 9.0 YPC
Kenny Pickett: 112/160 (70%) 896 yards (5.6 YPA) 13 TDs 5 INTs – 8.0 YPC
Chris Oladokun: 7/15 (46.7%) 46 yards (3.1 YPA) 1 TD 0 INTs – 6.6 YPC
– Even numbers across the board. Crazy that Rudolph and Trubisky finish with the same number of attempts. That’s how planned these practices are, though some things like two-minute work aren’t as structured.
– Incredibly, not a single interception for Rudolph during 11v11 work. By comparison, he threw four picks on 156 attempts last camp and seven interceptions on 150 attempts in 2019 and eight in 2018 on 170 attempts. The closest performance like this I could find was Ben Roethlisberger in 2017, who threw 30 TDs compared to one lone INT.
– Kenny Pickett’s growth was as noticeable as it was impressive. Posted this tweet yesterday showcasing the most important stats, completion percentage and YPA, increased basically every “grouping” of practices between off-days. It matched the eye test.
– Pickett’s 70% completion rate is also one of the highest I’ve tracked since 2015. Third-highest. Here’s the top five.
1. Josh Dobbs (2021): 74.1%
2. Devlin Hodges (2019): 71.8%
3. Kenny Pickett (2022): 70.0%
3. Ben Roethlisberger (2015): 69.7%
4. Ben Roethlisberger (2021): 69.4%
QB REPS
Mitch Trubisky: 293 (12-16-16-16-20-20-22-18-18-19-16-20 -28-16-20-16)
Mason Rudolph: 276 (12-15-15-14-16-17-23-13-13-16-18-14-13-23-28-26)
Kenny Pickett: 264 (12-12-12-13-18-18-13-12 -13-19-14-17-18-20-28-25)
Chris Oladokun: 19 (0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-12)
– Final rep numbers. Trubisky predictably with the most consistently receiving at least sixteen in all practices but the first one, which was a shorter session. Rudolph and Pickett’s numbers were very even the whole way.
– From a percentage standpoint, out of 852 total reps, Trubisky had 34.3%, Rudolph 32.4%, Pickett 31.0%, and Oladokun 2.2%. Again, very even here. For contrast, Rudolph was last year’s leader at 32.1%.
– Just ten INTs this summer for Steelers’ QBs. A far cry of what they’ve done before. The numbers.
2022: 10
2021: 18
2020: N/A
2019: 20
2018: 20
2017: 11
2016: 6
2015: 17
Only 2016 was a better mark than 2020.
Running Back Carries
Jaylen Warren: 53 carries, 177 yards (3.4 YPC), 3 TDs 1 fumble
Benny Snell: 41 carries, 126 yards (3.1 YPC) 3 TDs 1 fumble
Mataeo Durant: 35 carries, 85 yards (2.4 YPC)
Anthony McFarland: 31 carries, 103 yards (3.3 YPC) 1 TD
Master Teague: 22 carries, 78 yards (3.5 YPC) 1 TD
Najee Harris: 20 carries, 51 yards (2.6 YPC) 1 TD 1 fumble (reception)
Steven Sims: 6 carries, 4 yards (0.7 YPC) 1 TD
Calvin Austin: 4 carries, 21 yards (5.3 YPC)
Jeremy McNichols: 4 carries, 10 yards (2.5 YPC)
Gunner Olszewski: 4 carries 7 yards (1.8 YPC) 1 TD
Max Borghi: 4 carries, 2 yards (0.5 YPC) 1 TD
Tyler Snead: 2 carries, 23 yards (11.5 YPC)
George Pickens: 1 carry, 12 yards (12.0 YPC)
Derek Watt: 1 carry, 3 yards (3.0 YPC)
Cody White: 1 carry, 1 yard (1.0 YPC)
– In part due to injuries within the group, Warren had more carries than any Steelers’ back in 2021 (Najee Harris led the way with 46). Despite being one of just two RBs to be with the team all summer and not miss a practice, Anthony McFarland was just fourth in carries.
– Combined, Steelers’ receivers carried the ball 18 times for 68 yards and two touchdowns, an average of 3.8 YPC.
CATCHES/TARGETS/YARDS/TOUCHDOWNS – CATCH %
George Pickens: 24/40 277 yards 7 TDs – 60%
Gunner Olszewski: 28/38 264 yards 2 TDs – 73.7%
Connor Heyward: 26/38 134 yards 4 TDs – 68.4%
Cody White: 18/32 205 yards 4 TDs – 56.3%
Tyler Vaughns: 21/30 199 yards 5 TDs – 70%
Tyler Snead: 18/29 134 yards 2 TDs – 62.1%
Steven Sims: 18/26 185 yards 4 TDs – 69.2%
Miles Boykin: 19/25 201 yards 6 TDs – 76%
Anthony Miller: 12/25 93 yards 3 TDs – 48%
Jace Sternberger: 13/24 109 yards 3 TDs – 54.2%
Calvin Austin: 14/22 192 yards 1 TD – 63.6%
Pat Freiermuth: 16/20 122 yards 4 TDs – 80%
Anthony McFarland: 14/18 108 yards 2 TDs – 77.8%
Diontae Johnson: 10/18 109 yards 2 TDs – 55.6%
Christian Blake: 12/17 91 yards 1 TD – 70.6%
Kevin Rader: 10/16 50 yards 1 TD – 62.5%
Zach Gentry: 11/15 79 yards 1 TD – 73.3%
Jaylen Warren: 12/14 81 yards 1 TD – 85.7%
Chase Claypool: 9/12 104 yards 2 TDs – 75%
Mataeo Durant: 8/10 28 yards – 80%
Benny Snell: 6/8 26 yards – 75%
Najee Harris: 5/6 27 yards – 83.3%
Jeremy McNichols: 3/4 10 yards – 75%
Javon McKinley: 2/3 32 yards – 66.7%
Derek Watt: 1/1 12 yards – 100%
Max Borghi: 1/1 10 yards – 100%
– George Pickens’ quiet end places him third on the team in camp receptions with Gunner Olszewski taking over as leader followed by Connor Heyward’s surge at the end. But Pickens still lead in targets, receptions, and touchdowns. He was one of four players to go over 200 yards, joining Olszewski, Cody White, and Miles Boykin.
– Connor Heyward averaged 5.2 yards per reception which feels roughly right for what he’ll have this regular season. Probably a little higher than that but he’s a 7-8 YPC kind of guy. A new age Larry Centers or John L. Williams type. Gunner Olszewski also averaged just 9.4 yards per reception.
– It was of little surprise so it wasn’t worth much of a note but Pat Freiermuth caught 80% of his passes this year. Of players with 20+ targets since 2015, here are the top five catch rates.
1. Pat Freiermuth (2021): 87.5%
2. Le’Veon Bell (2015): 84.8%
3. Pat Freiermuth (2022): 80%
3. Markus Wheaton (2015): 80%
5. Ryan Switzer (2019): 78.6%
Freiermuth makes up two of the top three on this list, tied with Markus Wheaton for third place. Throw it to #88 and he comes down with it. Most of his incompletions were pretty close to uncatchable.
Drops
Kevin Rader: 4
Tyler Vaughns: 3
Anthony McFarland: 2
Calvin Austin: 2
Gunner Olszewski: 2
Cody White: 2
George Pickens: 1
Connor Heyward: 1
Jace Sternberger: 1
Jaylen Warren: 1
Zach Gentry: 1
Anthony Miller: 1
– Kevin Rader showed improved hands early on but waned down the stretch.
– Freiermuth hasn’t had a drop in two training camps.
– Pittsburgh had 21 drops this year. An improvement of the 27 they had last year in two fewer practices.
Interceptions
Chris Steele: 2
Robert Spillane: 2
Devin Bush: 1
Carlins Platel: 1
Arthur Maulet: 1
T.J. Watt: 1
Damontae Kazee: 1
James Pierre: 1
– Linebackers made up four of the team’s ten interceptions. Cornerbacks had five while safeties, Kazee, had just one.
