The Pittsburgh Steelers opened their voluntary workouts on Tuesday, as players started attending the facility. Two notable players who pulled up to the facility were quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, whom the team acquired via free agency and trade.
While the first phase of the voluntary offseason program consists of activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation, the players do not need to show up if they choose not to attend. While today is the official start to the team’s offseason programs, phase three of the offseason program is when the work really ramps up for the players. In phase three, which begins on May 21 and runs though June 6, is when organized team activities start. The organized team activities will be the first time that many of the new faces of the team can make an impression in the coaching staff.
During OTAs, teams are allowed to conduct 10 days of organized team practice activities in which no live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
Any team event, including OTAs, is voluntary until mandatory minicamps open on June 11. This is because all teams, like the Steelers, do not yet have their rosters completed. After this initial phase of the offseason program, the NFL Draft is next as it takes place in just over a week. Within two weeks of the draft’s conclusion, the rookies will attend town to participate in a weekend rookie minicamp.
Plenty of other players showed up for the first day of Steelers workouts. That included George Pickens, Joey Porter Jr., Broderick Jones, and Pat Freiermuth on top of many others.
Pittsburgh will not kick their workouts into high gear until OTAs, which are still a ways off the calendar, but this is another reminder in the football calendar that football is not all that far from being back.
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