Daily camp report: Some veterans rest as Steelers ramp up situational aspects of practice

On a sunny day when the temperature reached 90 degrees, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin decided to give a few of his veteran starters the day off.

Watching from the sideline Wednesday were defensive end Cameron Heyward, outside linebacker T.J. Watt, inside linebacker Myles Jack and left tackle Chuks Okorafor.

The Steelers are in the midst of practicing for six consecutive days, and they donned pads on each of the previous two practices for the first time.

“I’ll do that from time to time,” Tomlin said of resting the vets. “It’s less about those guys, to be quite honest, and is just a means of thinning the lines and providing more opportunities for younger guys. We’re going to treat everybody fairly, but we’re not going to treat everybody the same. Veteran players need less reps to be game ready. Younger players need more.”

Heyward’s absence afforded second-year defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk a chance to get more reps with the first-team defense. Rookie DeMarvin Leal also took some snaps with that group. Watt’s spot was filled by Derrek Tuszka.

With Okorafor sitting, the reps at right tackle were given to veteran swing tackle Joe Haeg and five-year vet Trent Scott, who is in his first camp with the Steelers.

Officials also were on the field for the first time in training camp. Tomlin said a topic of discussion was offensive pass interference with players being told not to have extended elbow contact above the waist.

“You get to learn the unwritten rules of the game,” Tomlin said. “There is an official rule book, and those are words on a page, but there is no substitute for having these guys out here and getting the dialogue and getting their perspective on what the tipping points are.”

Practice concluded with the Steelers introducing the two-minute drill for the first time in camp. Mitch Trubisky led the first-team offense on a 53-yard touchdown drive. Mason Rudolph ran out of time with the ball at the 7.

“It’s always good when you can start moving toward situational football,” Tomlin said. “We’re at that stage of development. We were working toward line-to-gain scenarios, those possession downs.”

Tomlin said the two-minute drill intentionally is designed to be the last event of the day.

“We do it at the end of practice thoughtfully so we work on developing conditioning,” he said. “It’s important that guys have the ability to operate and operate in great detail and execute communication and all the things that are big in that situation and do so when there is a little less gas in the tank.”