After almost 20 years of Mike Tomlin doing things a certain way, we are already starting to see the changes under new head coach Mike McCarthy. The NFL announced dates for all 32 teams’ offseason workout programs, and the Steelers have some notable changes from prior years.
Here is the calendar for voluntary minicamp, OTA practices, and mandatory minicamp, shared via Steelers.com. With a new head coach, the Steelers are allowed to hold a second, voluntary minicamp. They will do so just before the draft.
Steelers Voluntary Minicamp:
Monday, April 20 – Day 1
Tuesday, April 21 – Day 2
Wednesday, April 22 – Day 3
Steelers Mandatory Minicamp:
Tuesday, June 2 – Day 1
Wednesday, June 3 – Day 2
Thursday, June 4 – Day 3
Steelers OTAs:
Monday, May 18 – OTA #1
Wednesday, May 20 – OTA #2
Thursday, May 21 – OTA #3
Tuesday, May 26 – OTA #4
Thursday, May 28 – OTA #5
Friday, May 29 – OTA #6
Monday, June 8 – OTA #7
Tuesday, June 9 – OTA #8
Thursday, June 11 – OTA #9
Friday, June 12 – OTA #10
Missing from the list is the Steelers’ rookie minicamp, which has yet to be announced. According to the NFL, those are to be held either Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday on one of the two weekends immediately following the draft.
Last year, the Steelers held their mandatory minicamp after the final week of OTAs. This year, minicamp will take place in the middle of OTAs, which stretch out an additional week.
May 27-29 and June 3-5 were the Steelers’ six OTA sessions last year while this year they will take place May 18, 20-21, May 26, 28-29, and June 8-9, 11-12 with mandatory minicamp in between weeks three and four of OTAs. The entire program starts a week earlier than it did last year. Also, they never have more than two OTA sessions in a row. Tomlin used to group them into three or four-day stretches.
Last year was particularly weird for the Steelers as they only used six of the 10 OTA practices they are allowed to have under the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA. McCarthy and his new staff won’t make that a trend.
