Inside the ropes: George Pickens draws Minkah Fitzpatrick, holds own, in 1-on-1 competition

When defensive backs lined up to go one-on-one against the wide receivers Tuesday in practice, two-time All-Pro pick Minkah Fitzpatrick was tasked with defending rookie George Pickens.

It was no accident.

“The exposure was not for Minkah,” coach Mike Tomlin said afterward. “It was for George.”

Pickens showed he was up for the challenge.

On the first rep, with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback, Pickens beat Fitzpatrick to the left corner of the end zone, where he leaped and caught the pass for a touchdown.

Kenny Pickett was the quarterback for the rematch. This time, Fitzpatrick maintained coverage on a pass across the middle and knocked the ball from Pickens’ reach.

The tiebreaker came with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Pickens made a diving catch across the middle, holding on to the football despite Fitzpatrick’s best attempt at knocking it away.

The drill provides a built-in advantage for receivers, and Diontae Johnson also had two receptions and Chase Claypool one with Fitzpatrick in coverage.

Miles Boykin, returning to practice after missing a session with a rib injury, dropped a pass from Trubisky across the middle.

“You’ve got to catch that,” Tomlin said to the former Baltimore Ravens receiver.

• The offense scored a 5-2 victory in seven shots. Trubisky went 2 for 4, although a third score was disallowed because guard James Daniels was called for a false start.

On the first play, three receivers were bunched to the left, but Trubisky took the snap and ran up the middle for the score although no defensive players made an effort to tackle him. The second play was a pass that was out of Johnson’s reach at the 1. The third play, in which Daniels jumped early, ended with Trubisky finding tight end Pat Freiermuth over the middle for the score.

Trubisky’s fourth attempt was another completion to Freiermuth in the back of the end zone.

• Pickett took the second-team snaps in seven shots. He went 2 for 2, hitting running back Anthony McFarland on a roll-out on his first attempt and then finding Connor Heyward, who made a diving catch between two defenders.

• Rudolph got the last snap and found running back Jaylen Warren open for the score.

• A team-run period featured the return of Benny Snell to 11-on-11 activities. Snell got several carries, and starter Najee Harris also worked his way into the drill.

• Pressley Harvin III, the sole punter in camp after the release of Cameron Nizialek, put on a show in one special teams session. He delivered several booming punts from the goal line, sending one more than 65 yards in the air. The ball bounced at the 25 and didn’t stop until it neared the opposite end line.

• Pickett got the first-team snaps in the 2-minute drill that concluded practice. The ball was placed at the offense’s 47 with 1:01 on the clock. Needing 53 yards to reach the end zone, Pickett had short completions to Claypool and Harris that put the ball on the 41. He found Pickens for a 27-yard gain down the right sideline, but the drive stalled at the 14. With 11 seconds remaining, Pickett got off two more plays. One was too high for Pickens in double coverage, and the second one also sailed out of the end zone as time expired.

• Rudolph was up next with the second-team offense and worked under the same conditions. Completions to Steven Sims and Christian Blake put the ball at the 37 with a running clock. After a check-down to McFarland put the ball at the 30, time was called with 0:19 left. A completion to Tyler Vaughns put the ball at the 11. Rudolph managed to get off four more snaps, including one with 0:01 left on the clock. All were incompletions, in order, to Cody White, Vaughns, Jace Sternberger and Blake.

“There’s always an ebb and flow,” Tomlin said. “The defense appears to be warming up to the drill. The offense was dominating at the early portions of camp.”