Because I like them and hopefully you do too, we’re back with a final version of 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers training camp stats. Using our play-by-play tracking from each session, we can compile the data to see some baseline stats from the summer. As always, this is one piece of a big puzzle in our evaluation but it provides tangible baselines and the ability to compare with previous years to learn a little more about this group.
We’ll begin with camp stats since our last update followed by stats from every practice.
I will save conclusions for the total stats at the bottom.
Disclaimer. I am using stats from the 11th through 15th practice. I am not using most stats for the 16th and final practice, which was a low-key walk-through. The only numbers I’ll pull from there are QB reps since it’s a static metric not impacted by performance.
Training Camp Stats (#11-15)
Quarterbacks
Kenny Pickett: 39/60 (65 percent) 397 yards (6.6 YPA) 9 TDs 0 INTs – 10.2 YPC
Mitch Trubisky: 45/58 (77.6 percent) 433 yards (7.5 YPA) 13 TDs 2 INTs – 9.6 YPC
Mason Rudolph: 22/30 (73.3 percent) 248 yards (8.3 YPA) 1 TD 1 INT – 11.3 YPC)
Connor Heyward: 1/1 1 yard 1 TD 0 INTs
QB Reps:
Mitch Trubisky: 124 (17-19-21-21-19-27)
Kenny Pickett: 119 (20-20-22-22-19-16)
Mason Rudolph: 72 (8-16-12-12-10-24)
Tanner Morgan: 12 (0-0-0-0-0-12)
Running Backs
Najee Harris: 18 carries, 51 yards (2.8 YPC) – 4 TDs
Jaylen Warren: 18 carries, 62 yards (3.4 YPC) – 2 TDs (1 fumble)
Anthony McFarland: 14 carries, 60 yards (4.3 YPC) – 2 TDs
Darius Hagans: 7 carries, 5 yards (0.7 YPC)
Xazavian Valladay: 4 carries, 10 yards (2.5 YPC)
Greg Bell: 13 carries, 35 yards (2.7 yPC)
Calvin Austin III: 4 carries, 31 yards (7.8 YPC)
Connor Heyward: 8 carries, 10 yards (1.3 YPC)
Jordan Byrd: 2 carries, 10 yards (5.0 YPC)
Kendrick Green: 1 carry, 3 yards
Zach Gentry: 1 carry, 0 yards
Pat Freiermuth: 1 carry, 1 yards – 1 TD
CATCHES/TARGETS/YARDS/TOUCHDOWNS – CATCH PERCENTAGE
George Pickens: 13/18 131 yards 4 TDs – 72.2 percent
Diontae Johnson: 11/18 127 yards 1 TD – 61.1 percent
Gunner Olszewski: 9/12 99 yards 1 TD – 75 percent
Allen Robinson: 6/10 65 yards 2 TDs – 60 percent
Darnell Washington: 7/9 56 yards 3 TDs – 77.8 percent
Cody White: 7/9 89 yards – 77.8 percent
Pat Freiermuth: 6/8 33 yards 2 TDs – 75 percent
Hakeem Butler: 6/8 31 yards – 75 percent
Calvin Austin III: 5/8 77 yards – 62.5 percent
Miles Boykin: 5/7 48 yards 1 TD – 71.4 percent
Dez Fitzpatrick: 6/6 40 yards 2 TDs – 100 percent
Rodney Williams: 5/6 41 yards 5 TDs – 83.3 percent
Zach Gentry: 4/5 42 yards 1 TD – 80 percent
Connor Heyward: 4/5 21 yards 1 TD – 80 percent
Jaylen Warren: 4/4 42 yards 1 TD – 100 percent
Najee Harris: 3/4 24 yards – 75 percent
Jordan Byrd: 2/4 16 yards – 50 percent
Anthony McFarland: 2/3 29 yards – 66.7 percent
Dan Chisena: 1/1 19 yards – 100 percent
Kendrick Green: 1/1 18 yards – 100 percent
Drops
Calvin Austin III: 1
Cody White: 1
Darnell Washington: 1
Gunner Olszewski: 1
Anthony McFarland: 1
Hakeem Butler: 1
Jordan Byrd: 1
Interceptions
Luq Barcoo: 1
James Pierre: 1
Elijah Riley: 1
ALL TRAINING CAMP PRACTICES (#1-15)
QUARTERBACKS
Kenny Pickett: 109/178 (61.2 percent) 1,220 yards (6.9 YPA) 22 TDs 1 INT – 11.2 YPC
Mitch Trubisky: 110/168 (65.5 percent) 1,229 yards (7.3 YPA) 27 TDs 4 INTs – 11.2 YPC
Mason Rudolph: 71/107 (66.4 percent) 792 yards (7.4 YPA) 4 TDs 5 INTs – 11.2 YPC
Tanner Morgan: 5/11 (45.5 percent) 69 yards (6.3 YPA) 0 TDs 1 INT – 13.8 YPC
Connor Heyward: 1/1 1 yard 1 TD 0 INTs
– Pickett’s completion percentage is way down from last year (70 percent) but his YPA is 1.3 yards better and his YPC is 3.2 yards better. So that’s the tradeoff. More downfield shots = lower completion rate. One interception is really impressive after he threw five in camp last year. All the quarterbacks pushed the ball downfield and greatly improved their YPA/YPC. Rudolph didn’t throw a pick last camp but led the way with five this year.
– Heyward’s touchdown, if you’re wondering, came in the team’s goal line drill, complete to TE Pat Freiermuth.
QB REPS
Kenny Pickett: 297 (12-16-16-16-16-20-22-19-18-23-20-20-22-22-19-16)
Mitch Trubisky: 284 (12-16-15-0-15-19-23-19-19-22-17-19-21-21-19-27)
Mason Rudolph: 191 (11-12-12-15-12-15-12-15-15-0-8-16-12-12-10-24)
Tanner Morgan: 35 (0-0-0-12-0-0-0-0-0-11-0-0-0-0-0-12)
– Pretty even reps between Pickett and Trubisky. A year ago, Pickett saw 264 reps, so a slight increase now that he’s the starter. Rudolph had 276 reps last year so he saw a clear dropoff. Last year’s 4th-string QB Chris Oladokun had 19 reps before being cut. Morgan at least beat that.
RUNNING BACKS
Najee Harris: 50 carries, 142 yards (2.8 YPC) – 6 TDs
Jaylen Warren: 39 carries, 152 yards (3.9 YPC) – 2 TDs (1 fumble)
Anthony McFarland: 36 carries, 108 yards (3.0 YPC) – 2 TDs
Darius Hagans: 32 carries 110 yards (3.4 YPC) – 1 TD (2 fumbles)
Greg Bell: 23 carries, 67 yards (2.9 YPC)
Connor Heyward: 10 carries, 17 yards (1.7 YPC)
Calvin Austin III: 6 carries 39 yards (6.5 YPC) – (1 fumble)
Jason Huntley: 5 carries, 28 yards (5.6 YPC)
Jordan Byrd: 4 carries, 26 yards (6.5 YPC)
Gunner Olszewski: 2 carries, 22 yards (11.0 YPC)
Alfonzo Graham: 1 carry, 5 yards
John Lovett: 1 carry, 5 yards
– Harris’ number don’t look good, besides the rushing scores, but he wasn’t going full tilt and neither was the defense. Pittsburgh protected him. Still, it’s fair to say Warren outperformed Harris in camp statistically and through the eye test. McFarland’s carries picked up throughout camp while Connor Heyward had ten totes. He’ll see some RB work this year. Lots of jet sweeps and wide receiver runs. Eleven in total (one of Byrd’s was from a RB alignment). But that number is down from a year ago, when they had 18 WR runs in the 2022 camp.
CATCHES/TARGETS/YARDS/TOUCHDOWNS – Yards Per Catch
Diontae Johnson: 26/34 319 yards 4 TDs – 12.3 YPC
George Pickens: 25/46 321 yards 7 TDs – 12.8 YPC
Gunner Olszewski: 25/37 276 yards 4 TDs – 11.0 YPC
Cody White: 24/32 380 yards 2 TDs – 15.8 YPC
Dez Fitzpatrick: 20/25 198 yards 3 TDs – 9.9 YPC
Calvin Austin III: 16/27 329 yards 3 TDs – 20.6 YPC
Miles Boykin: 16/30 192 yards 1 TD – 12.0 YPC
Allen Robinson: 16/23 164 yards 4 TDs – 10.3 YPC
Pat Freiermuth: 16/26 131 yards 3 TDs – 8.2 YPC
Anthony McFarland: 16/20 110 yards 2 TDs – 6.9 YPC
Darnell Washington: 15/23 126 yards 7 TDs – 8.4 YPC
Hakeem Butler: 12/20 122 yards 2 TDs – 10.2 YPC
Connor Heyward: 11/16 95 yards 2 TDs – 8.6 YPC
Zach Gentry: 12/15 92 yards 4 TDs – 7.7 YPC
Rodney Williams: 12/14 113 yards 5 TDs – 9.4 YPC
Najee Harris: 7/14 34 yards – 4.9 YPC
Ja’Marcus Bradley: 5/13 45 yards – 9.0 YPC
Jaylen Warren: 8/8 69 yards 1 TD – 8.6 YPC
Dan Chisena: 5/7 86 yards – 17.2 YPC
Jordan Byrd: 3/5 20 yards – 6.7 YPC
Kendrick Green: 3/3 40 yards – 13,3 YPC
Darius Hagans: 2/4 8 yards – 50 percent – 4.0 YPC
Jason Huntley: 1/1 10 yards – 100 percent – 10.0 YPC
Greg Bell: 1/1 10 yards – 100 percent – 10.0 YOC
DROPS
Calvin Austin III: 4
Miles Boykin: 3
Gunner Olszewski: 3
Darnell Washington: 2
Cody White: 2
Hakeem Butler: 2
Anthony McFarland Jr.: 2
Diontae Johnson: 1
George Pickens: 1
Connor Heyward: 1
Ja’Marcus Bradley: 1
Jordan Byrd: 1
– Decided to use yards per catch in the last column instead of catch percentage. A little more relevant information, I think.
– Close battle to the top for most receptions. Diontae Johnson nudged out George Pickens, Gunner Olszewski, and Cody White. White led in yards…bet you didn’t expect that before camp. And all Olszewski does is have good camps. Last year, he led the team in receptions (28) and finished second in yards (264). Similar numbers this year. The offensive version of Anthony Chickillo.
– Calvin Austin averaged a ridiculous 20.6 yards per reception. Way up over last year before he got hurt, 13.7. He was a consistent downplay dude. He did drop four passes, though. Most of those came early in camp.
– George Pickens has seven touchdowns in each of his first two camps. Seven as a rookie, seven this year. Similar numbers to last camp too (24/277/7).
– Allen Robinson and Darnell Washington put up stat lines that should mimic their regular season output. Robinson averaging 10.3 YPC, Washington under ten yards but a boat load of touchdowns. Nearly half of his catches landed himself in the end zone.
– Connor Heyward had a good camp but I was surprised to see him not even crack 100 yards.
– Five receptions for Dan Chisena and three for Jordan Byrd despite them working in every practice speaks to how quiet they were. Byrd has a very limited catch radius.
– Kendrick Green with 40 yards…how about that.
INTERCEPTIONS
Kenny Robinson: 3
Joey Porter Jr.: 2
Elijah Riley: 2
Luq Barcoo: 2
Mark Robinson: 1
James Pierre: 1
– Robinson’s three picks are more than any Steeler had last camp. And again, these are just from the first 15 practices, not the final session, where there were a couple more picks by DL Jonathan Marshall and LB Kwon Alexander.
