Behind the Steel Curtain
Biggest news from Steelers training camp on Day Four
The Pittsburgh Steelers are approaching one full week in Latrobe for training camp, and things are getting chippy. A fight broke out between Cole Holcomb and Ryan McCollum, and it’s obvious that everyone is ready for pads going on this Tuesday. With that being said, Day Four is in the books - here are the most noteworthy stories from Sunday’s practice.
The Iowa product was reportedly making an impact in the passing game. Per Chris Carter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Black had two pass deflections that ended any potential completions during team drills. While the fifth-round pick is known predominantly for his coverage against the run, it’s good to see that he has a few things in his toolbox to defend the pass.
Per Nick Farabaugh of PennLive, Roc Taylor had by far his best day of camp. The undrafted free agent out of Memphis caught three passes on the day in team drills, all of which came on dig routes.
While Taylor feels like a long shot to make the roster, we’ve seen undrafted receivers go from likely cut to 53-man roster around the NFL before. That’s not to say he’ll become Rod Smith or Victor Cruz, but it is to say that he has officially thrown his name into the hat for one of the final roster spots.
Brandin Echols has flown under the radar due to the star power that surrounds him in the secondary, but he has had a very good start to camp and made the biggest play of his brief Steelers career thus far. During seven shots, Echols picked off Mason Rudolph in the end zone, preventing a potential touchdown to Darnell Washington.
Echols earned praise from Mike Tomlin after practice.
“That’s a veteran guy who brings energy every day,” Tomlin said. “He has brought it every day.”
I’ve said it multiple times, but this is the deepest cornerback room the Steelers have had in a very long time. If Echols also turns out to be an impact player in his role, it will be hard to throw on Pittsburgh in 2025.
There’s a lot of pressure on right tackle Troy Fautanu to live up to his first-round status and protect Aaron Rodgers. What better way to prepare him for that than having him go up against one of the greatest edge rushers in league history? T.J. Watt and Fautanu had some good battles on Sunday. Per Nick Farabaugh, Watt made a nice move to get around Fautanu for what would have been a sack in-game, but Fautanu stood Watt up in a rep later on.
Iron sharpens iron, and these two going up against one another all summer will only make each of them better,...
