Steelers Inside the Ropes: JuJu Smith-Schuster vs. Joe Haden this camp’s marquee matchup

Two years ago, Antonio Brown vs. Artie Burns was the must-see individual battle of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.

Things change quickly in the NFL, but the 2019 version of No. 1 WR and shutdown cornerback features, arguably, an even better matchup: JuJu Smith-Schuster against Joe Haden. Though Haden’s reps are limited — likely because Tomlin wants to preserve the 10-year veteran’s body (and in part because the Steelers want to give Burns reps) — Haden on Smith-Schuster always catches eyes when a ball is thrown that way.

On Wednesday at Saint Vincent, it was during the first rep of the first drill of practice after the completion of seven shots that Ben Roethlisberger targeted Smith-Schuster in a one-on-one route-running drill down the sideline. Smith-Schuster tipped the ball to himself on a pass 25 yards downfield, pinned it to his helmet, maintained possession over top of Haden — who was in good coverage — then ran into the end zone.

• The offense won the seven shots 2-point conversion-style competition 4-3. The first-teamers split their four snaps: Roethlisberger hit a wide-open Xavier Grimble and connected with Vance McDonald after McDonald beat Kameron Kelly, but Devin Bush broke up a pass to James Washington and Roethlisberger surely would have been sacked on his final snap by the time he threw a pass to Diontae Johnson. Josh Dobbs won two of his three snaps for the offense, hitting Washington in front of P.J. Locke and finding Tevin Jones after Jones broke free of Ulysees Gilbert. Brian Allen broke up a pass to Jones at the goal line on the penultimate snap.

• Bush arguably had his best practice. He had another pass break-up later in 11-on-11s, and he appeared to play more in the nickel and base defenses than Vince Williams did.

• For what apparently was the first time at Saint Vincent, Sutton Smith took reps at fullback. The sixth-round pick linebacker dabbled at fullback during organized team activities.

• Third-round pick Justin Layne has had a quiet camp. He hasn’t been bad. He just hasn’t been noticed much. During a one-on-one WR/DB drill, senior defensive assistant/secondary Teryl Austin seemed most intent on repping and watching Layne. He repeatedly told “31” (Layne’s uniform number) to “get in there.”

• Roethlisberger has been a hands-on veteran teammate this camp. On Wednesday, he walked over to rookie Johnson during a drill to show him foot placement in running a quick inside slant.

• Santonio Holmes was a guest on the practice field. The former Steelers Super Bowl MVP receiver had an eager and willing listener in Smith-Schuster when Holmes did some teaching of route-running between drills.

• The special-teams focus du jour was kickoff returns. Washington, Dionate Spencer, Cameron Sutton, Johnson and Johnny Holton took returns. Back from missing time because of a hamstring injury, Holton had a light day. He did, however, stay after practice to take about a dozen passes from Mason Rudolph in the end zone.

• Receiver Trey Griffey had catches on back-to-back snaps midway through practice. The son of the Hall of Fame baseball player hasn’t repped too much during this camp.

• On another hot day, coach Mike Tomlin made a rare departure from his usual all-black attire in favor of a white shirt and hat.

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