But this can be a coaching camp of change for the Steelers as they transfer on from the 18-year quarterbacking reign of Ben Roethlisberger, the six-time Pro Bowl choice and two-time Super Bowl winner who retired after final season.
“There’s different questions,” veteran defensive lineman Cameron Heyward mentioned this week. “You’re no longer just wondering who’s the No. 2 quarterback. You want to know who’s No. 1. … Every practice we’re just saying: ‘Oh, this guy is getting better. Oh, this guy is learning.’ It’s a different feel.”
Roethlisberger’s successor is probably going to be Mitchell Trubisky, the No. 2 choice within the 2017 NFL draft for the Chicago Bears who signed with the Steelers as a free agent in March after one season because the backup to Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen.
“There’s always pressure,” Trubisky mentioned. “… I have a lot to prove, just because last year was like a reset year for me. I didn’t play as much. I’m looking forward to [getting] back on the field and [being] a starting quarterback again and leading a team. I know I have a lot to prove to myself, and … I want to show that a lot of the work that I’ve put in has been paying off. So I’ve got a lot of respect for Big Ben and what he’s done here. He had an amazing career. We’re trying to carry on that legacy of winning a lot of games and being a successful quarterback at that position in Pittsburgh.”
The Steelers even have holdover backup Mason Rudolph and rookie Kenny Pickett, the University of Pittsburgh product who was the one quarterback taken within the first spherical of this yr’s NFL draft. But the beginning job seemingly was Trubisky’s from the second he picked the Steelers over the New York Giants in free company. There had been hypothesis he would possibly head to New York after the Giants employed Bills government Joe Schoen as their common supervisor and Brian Daboll, Buffalo’s offensive coordinator, joined Schoen as head coach.
“To be in that offense and stay with them would have been a lot of fun,” Trubisky mentioned. “It would have been an advantage. But this was one of the spots that I had circled in the free agency. … They wanted to have me here, and this is where I wanted to be. So I just felt like when that happened, I felt like it was working out the way it was supposed to. … I felt like this was the best opportunity for me to get back on the field and compete to win a lot of games.”
Trubisky broadly was labeled a bust with the Bears, failing to dwell up to the promise that accompanied the group surprisingly drafting him at such a lofty spot. He by no means gained a playoff recreation with Chicago, and the Bears declined to train the fifth-year choice in his rookie contract.
But Trubisky, in fact, wasn’t fully terrible in Chicago. He was even chosen to a Pro Bowl as a second-year participant in 2018.
“There were very high expectations, obviously, for being drafted No. 2,” Trubisky mentioned. “… At the end of the day, I enjoyed my time in Chicago. I love my teammates there still. And we won a lot of ballgames. So would I love to have more individual success and win Super Bowls? Of course. Everybody does. But I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be for a reason now in Pittsburgh. That was just part of my journey. I’m thankful for it. But people are always going to say stuff and look at it however they want, especially with social media and everything these days. … It’s part of my story.”
Coach Mike Tomlin finally will face an fascinating determination if Trubisky performs properly, given the group’s use of a first-round selection on Pickett. Trubisky remains to be younger — he turns 28 on Saturday — and his expertise stage hardly ever has been questioned.
As the Roethlisberger period offers approach to, maybe, a Trubisky period, there are causes for the Steelers to be hopeful. There are playmakers round Trubisky on offense, from second-year tailback Najee Harris to tight finish Pat Freiermuth to a promising group of vast receivers that features Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and rookie George Pickens. The protection is led by standouts akin to Heyward, security Minkah Fitzpatrick and game-wrecking move rusher T.J. Watt, the reigning NFL defensive participant of the yr.
Tomlin enters his sixteenth yr with the franchise with no dropping season on his head teaching report. Even when it appeared at occasions final season Roethlisberger had performed one yr too lengthy, Tomlin managed to get the Steelers into the AFC playoffs — barely, at 9-7-1 — earlier than they misplaced within the first spherical to the Kansas City Chiefs.
And these are, in any case, the Steelers.
“To me, this organization is the gold standard of gold standards,” mentioned Andy Weidl, a Pittsburgh native and long-ago Steelers intern who rejoined the group in May because the assistant common supervisor. “You have an expectation and standard to live up to. … The goal here is to win number seven. And it’s important.”
Weidl’s return coincided with one other main change. Longtime common supervisor Kevin Colbert stepped apart after this yr’s NFL draft and the Steelers promoted front-office government Omar Khan to GM. But there may be continuity with Khan, who has been with the group since 2001. Likewise, there’s a acquainted really feel to being again in Latrobe, which was the Steelers’ coaching camp house for greater than 5 a long time till they spent the earlier two summers in Pittsburgh for pandemic-related causes.
Not a lot adjustments dramatically with the Steelers, even when acquainted faces bow out. They anticipate to keep winning and contending even with out Roethlisberger.
“I never temper my expectations,” Heyward mentioned. “It’s just we have to win in different ways. We have to be an opportunistic defense. There’s going to be growing pains. We understand that. But as a defense, we’ve got to be able to weather that.”
