Steelers Rookie Minicamp Takeaways: There's Some QB Buzz
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers are back. Well, at leas the rookie are. But with football being played, we're inching closer and closer to the start of the 2023 season.
The first stop in that journey is rookie minicamp, where the Steelers are working out 51 players, including 32 tryouts over the next two days. After the first practice, which wasn't very eventful, there are three major takeaways.
Welcome back. Let's dive in.
Darnell Washington is As Big As Advertised
At 6'7, Darnell Washington had pretty high expectations. (I'll let myself out). But for all the hype about how massive this guy was and how dominant of a blocker he could be, you had to see it with your own eyes. This is the NFL, a lot of guys are big. Not everyone is that big, though.
Just for reference, here's a picture of Washington standing next to Steelers' tight end coach Alfredo Roberts, who's 6'3.
Massive is an understatement. So are any limited expectations about his potential.
You could tell from Roberts's interest that Washington is going to be a key factor in the Steelers' 2023 success. This offense beefed up, and the 6'7 tight end with great blocking ability is certainly going to be a part of it.
He's also played so many positions, he can do literally anything on a football field. You can read about that here.
There's a QB Buzz
The Steelers have three rookie minicamp quarterbacks on their roster. Two are undrafted free agents in Minnesota's Tanner Morgan and Northwestern's Hunter Johnson. The last is former Los Angeles Ram Bryce Perkins, who played college ball at Virginia.
The buzz is about Johnson. The conversation at practice was about how a former five-star recruit got to be a UDFA for the Steelers. Most would think he just doesn't have the "it factor" or isn't as sharp mentally as he is physically.
But word has it that Clemson wanted Johnson to return this season as a coach to assist the quarterbacks. You don't ask a player to return if they aren't sharp on their football I.Q. So, if he's got all the brains to play quarterback and once had the talent, what's the problem?
To a degree, there's a belief he has all the tools and could showcase them this weekend.
We'll see over the next two days, but it's certainly an interesting story - if there is one - to why Johnson never panned out in college.
Early Impresser - Monte 'The Mullet' Pottebaum
The Steelers are viewing Connor Heyward as a hybrid player this season, working at the tight end, slot, halfback and fullback positions this upcoming season. Or, at least, that's the assumed plan.
But there's another fullback who impressed on Day 1 of rookie minicamp, and that's Iowa's Monte 'The Mullet' Pottebaum.
Outside of having camp's best hair, and nickname, Pottebaum received a decent amount of praise during his first NFL practice. There wasn't much going on to impress in, but when the running backs were doing individual drills, coach Eddie Faulkner was impressed by Pottebaum a few times.
Without Derek Watt, the Steelers have an opening at fullback. It'll be interesting to see if Pottebaum can put himself on the map enough to force out someone else on offense.
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