May 20, 2022 4 min read

The Steelers will start the final portion of their OTAs next week, with those sessions leading up to the team’s mandatory minicamp in mid-June.

After that, the team will break until returning to training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe in late July.

The team might want to hire some Saint Vincent College students to show players around campus.

Here’s how quickly things can change in the NFL from year to year.

The Steelers haven’t had training camp at Saint Vincent College since 2019 because of COVID-19. Of their current 90-man roster, just 20 have ever been to a training camp there.

That includes veteran players such as Minkah Fitzpatrick, who despite being with the team for the past three seasons, has never been a part of a training camp at Saint Vincent. Remember, Fitzpatrick was traded for after Week 2 in 2019.

• It’s not only the players who will need to be shown around. So will many of the coaches.

Eight of the assistant coaches on Mike Tomlin’s staff also have never been to Saint Vincent College.

The Steelers have been in something of a rebuild the past couple of seasons, turning their roster and coaching staff over.

You just won’t get anyone at the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex to admit that’s been what has been taking place.

• There seems to be a feeling for some that if Kenny Pickett doesn’t win the Steelers’ starting quarterback job coming out of training camp, he was somehow a wasted draft pick.

Despite the selection of Pickett in the first round of the draft, Mitch Trubisky remains the frontrunner to be the team’s opening day quarterback.

Trubisky has 50 career NFL starts under his belt. That’s just two fewer starts than Pickett had in his five seasons at Pitt.

And there’s a big difference in NFL experience versus college experience.

Pickett was lauded in the draft process as being the most NFL-ready quarterback of this draft class. But the reality is that very few rookies are actually NFL ready – especially quarterbacks.

• We got our first look at Pickett last weekend at the Steelers’ rookie minicamp. This week, we’ll get our first look at Trubisky.

While it’s often said that battles such as these take place at training camp, the reality is – especially at quarterback – what happens in these settings matter.

Quarterback is different. The quarterback has to develop the trust of the entire offense. He must show he can be a leader.

And that can absolutely begin to happen at this time of year.

• The best thing that might have happened to the Penguins was their first-round playoff loss to the Rangers.

If the Penguins had somehow won that series, they might not have been willing to make the changes necessary to begin rebuilding the franchise.

With four consecutive first-round losses, the Penguins have won one playoff series since their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.

That’s their worst streak of ineptitude since they missed the playoffs from 2002 through 2006 and were then bounced in the first round of the playoffs in 2007.

At least that streak of losing netted the Penguins Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

What does this current team have to hang its hat on? An aging Crosby and Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust heading to free agency without the Penguins being able to afford to keep them all.

But that’s fine. Of that group, only Rust is still in his 20s and worth keeping.

It’s time for a rebuild. The franchise went too long trading away first-round draft picks in an effort to stay in the hunt.

It’s time to retool the roster.

• The Pirates became just the sixth team in Major League Baseball history this week to get no-hit and still win the game.

That’s really tough to do at that level.

But the Pirates also have 11 players this season with 60 or more at bats who are hitting .214 or lower. If that keeps up, that won’t be the only time this season that they’re no-hit.

• David Bednar has developed into one of the best relievers in baseball. It’s a shame the Pirates don’t have a few more of him.

Bednar is almost a lock at this point to be the Pirates’ lone All-Star representative.