Steelers inside the ropes: Connor Heyward keeps showing good hands, racking up catches

Connor Heyward was a running back for most of his football life, and he averaged a mere 15 catches per year over his first four college seasons at Michigan State. Drafted as a tight end after converting to the position in 2021, it perhaps was fair to question if Heyward’s receiving bona fides were NFL-caliber.

After 3½ weeks of showing reliable, sticky hands and racking up high catch totals at training camp, Heyward seemed to answer those questions resoundingly.

He had a few more receptions during Thursday’s camp-ending practice at Saint Vincent. A sixth-round pick, Heyward quickly became a comfortably reliable target for all three quarterbacks on Chuck Noll Field.

Thursday’s production began during the first 11-on-11 period after seven shots when Heyward caught a pass and sneaked into the end zone after a Mitch Trubisky rollout. Perhaps his best reception was on a flag route about 20 yards downfield when he beat safety Damontae Kazee.

Most notable, perhaps, is Heyward has had so few drops so far during practices for the Steelers.

• If Heyward wasn’t the most-targeted pass-catcher of the 16 open practices of camp, Gunner Olszewski probably was. Olszewski accumulates bunches of receptions on a daily basis, and Thursday was no different. The most eyebrow-raising play Olszewski made Thursday was when he was able to reel in a reception despite being yanked to the ground by Linden Stephens while at the goal line. During a real game, Stephens would have been flagged for pass interference.

• Cody White remained on the active roster all of last season but has had a quiet camp offensively. White went out with a proverbial bang, though. White at one point beat Ahkello Witherspoon for a long pass during a team drill, but his most impressive catch came in a seven-on-seven red zone situation. Off a throw on an out route from Mason Rudolph, White was falling to the ground as he approached the sideline near the goal line. The ball was thrown slightly behind White, necessitating a one-handed back-handed catch as he fell to the ground.

• In an effort to simulate a regular “Friday” practice (two days before a game day) during the regular season, the Steelers had speakers on a sideline to replicate noise. A sizable crowd in the bleachers did its part, too, repeatedly egged on by senior conditioning coordinator Garrett Giemont. At one point at the start of a team drill, “Renegade” began to play — but it was cut off right before the guitar riff for the unofficial Steelers theme song kicked in. The crowd audibly groaned.

• The crowd perhaps was its loudest during the final public seven shots 2-point simulation that traditionally opens the full team period of practice. It kept a constant baseline of noise while watching the offense win 4-3 during a contest that had lobster and “T-bone streak” (as announced beforehand by coach Mike Tomlin) for dinner on the line. When receiver Tyler Snead beat safety Tre Norwood to catch Rudolph’s pass and clinch the win, it set off a celebration by the offense that mimicked the defense’s trademark of this camp. Spearheaded by Trubisky and Rudolph, Trubisky threw a ball high in the air while others made “gun-firing” noises and pointed imaginary guns to the sky as if they were skeetshooting.

• The offense scored on two of Trubisky’s four snaps: a Jaylen Warren draw play up the middle and Pat Freiermuth wrestling away a contested ball from Cameron Sutton. Kenny Pickett’s score was a quick pass in the slot to Miles Boykin, who boxed out Stephens and Norwood. Pickett completed his other pass, but Christian Blake caught it at about the 3 and could not fight his way into the end zone. George Pickens couldn’t come down with one of Trubisky’s passes, in part because Levi Wallace had good coverage. On the first snap of seven shots, T.J. Watt batted down a Trubisky pass intended for Najee Harris.

• After going 16 practices without any, Chris Oladokun for the second consecutive practice received reps in full team drills. The No. 4 QB and rookie seventh-round pick was part of a “scout team.” It was not a banner showing for Oladokun: His first two passes were an underthrow to White and an off-target pass for Jace Sternberger, followed later by a ball heaved deep into the area of three defenders that was more than 5 yards beyond the reach of White.

• When players gathered around Tomlin after practice ended, as is custom for any session, they shook hands and hugged several of each other in an apparent following through of a request from coaches to congratulate each other on a successful 2022 training camp.

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