Injury Updates, Training Camp News | Steelers Morning Rush
Welcome to Steelers Morning Rush, our new daily short-form podcast with Alan Saunders, giving a longer perspective on a single news topic surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers or the National Football League. Today, it's a news-heavy first day of training camp, as Mike McCarthy and Omar Khan broke down the team's injury situation, set out the first pieces of the depth chart, and talked about the character of the training camp to come, while Aaron Rodgers opened up on his retirement and talked about his connection with DK Metcalf. Alan breaks it down:#steelers #herewego #nfl CONNECT WITH STEELERS NOW: Steelers Now: https://steelersnow.com SN on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pghsteelersnow SN on FB: https://facebook.com/steelersnow SN on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/pghsteelersnow/
Video Transcript
Hey, folks, good morning and welcome to another episode of Steelers Morning Rush.
I'm Alan Saunders, and we are here, Saint Vincent College, Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.
The team reported last night, had their first real events of training camp today.
They had their conditioning test, and we were able to speak to a number of members of the team, including general manager Omar Khan, head coach Mike McCarthy, T.J. Watt, DK Metcalf, and Aaron Rodgers.
A lot from those conversations I want to get to you guys here this morning.
And then, of course, we'll go more in depth with these conversations on Afternoon Drive with me and Smitty around 6:00.
Steelers had about a 15-minute, conditioning test.
It was in the new indoor facility here at Saint Vincent College, which just opened this summer, the first time they've used it, as it was a little bit rainy today.
Rained this morning pretty hard.
The fields were damp when I got here at around 8:00 AM.
And, the results of that conditioning test were pretty good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Only two players will start training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
One of those, cornerback Dante Kent, still recovering from the ACL surgery that ended his 2025 season, was very much expected.
One was unexpected, and that's cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
Mike McCarthy said that he suffered a knee injury, in mini camp and is expected to miss a couple of weeks, but did not need to have surgery.
Seems like it's more of a precautionary thing for Ramsey.
Not expected to miss any time during the season.
The player that maybe people expected to be on the PUP list but won't be is offensive tackle Broderick Jones, who has recovered from his neck surgery that happened over the winter and is expected to be on the field at practice on Wednesday when the team has their first session Wednesday morning.
Omar Khan said they're gonna be smart.
He's not gonna be able to go straight to 100, but a really good sign for the Steelers that Broderick Jones is ready to go to start training camp.
Now the big question will be where he's going to play as the team moved Troy Fatunu from right tackle to left tackle in the spring.
Will Jones and Fatunu compete at left tackle?
Will Or will he join the competition at right tackle, where you already have Dylan Cook and Max Ahonatu?
Mike McCarthy said he's a starter quality player.
He has positional flexibility.
We'll see how he's going to be used.
That's going to be revealed over the course of training camp.
I do want to get to the quarterback position because I'm sure that's where a lot of you have questions.
We'll start with Aaron Rodgers, who said that he is sure this is going to be his last season, no doubt whatsoever.
Although I will say DK Metcalf said, "Hey, people say that, but then they don't know."
Rodgers said, you know, it was something he talked about with his wife and, you know, felt like he was comfortable with one more year, especially coming back to coach with Mike McCarthy, who he pointed out is the same-- He is now the same age that McCarthy was, when they started together in Green Bay.
A, a full circle moment for them.
Both of those guys talked about how special that's going to be over the course of the season.
But Rodgers said it really doesn't feel any different at this point, knowing that it's his last season.
He's approaching it just like any other camp.
He is excited to get to work with this new group of receivers.
It includes Michael Pittman and Jeremy Bernard, and feels like there's a lot more to go with him and DK Metcalf than there-- Actually, both of those players said that.
Metcalf talked about their communication.
How over the course of last year he felt like they got better.
And Rodgers said when those two got together for their trip, that they took to Wyoming along with the other receivers, that they really opened up to one another.
And now he said like I, I said I was friends with DK Metcalf before, but now there's a depth to that word that, that didn't exist before.
So a real connection, a real bond growing between those guys and a lot of optimism that between Mike McCarthy's offense, which obviously Aaron Rodgers has a lot of experience with and a lot of synergy in, the increased talent in the receiver room, and that connection between Rodgers and McC- and Metcalf growing, that this offense can lead the way for the Steelers in 2026.
Beyond Aaron Rodgers, obviously a lot of people want to know about the backup quarterback situation.
Both Omar Khan and Mike McCarthy said keeping four is a possibility, although Omar, you know, talked about the reality of the situation.
You only get 53 guys.
But McCarthy said if they were having that 53-man conversation today, all four of those guys would be in the conversation to make the team.
He did say that Rodgers will start as the one, Rudolph will start as the two, with Howard and Aller as the threes.
That's the way they'll start.
That doesn't mean that's the way they'll finish.
I'm more interested to see, than the order of the quarterbacks, who they're playing with.
I think that'll be more telling is how we're getting the third reps, but with the second team or see out there throwing to practice squad guys.
I think that really will shape, the way we talk about this quarterback competition going forward.
And, one last thing I want to touch here very r- briefly before we get you out of here is, the defensive side of the ball.
DK Metcalf actually said he's never had an offensive head coach, and he feels like it's going to be really different in terms of the way practice is run.
He feels like the offense gets another chance when they make a mistake.
T-TJ Watt said he wasn't sure what to make of that yet, and he's not quite sure how that's going to play out.
But Mike McCarthy said no tackling at practice, no tackling to the ground anyway, at practice for the Steelers this year.
I do, am, am expecting a very different Steelers training camp.
Aaron Rodgers was talking about how just, you know, things have changed, that his initial practices with Mike McCarthy were two-a-days, and that, you know, the, the CBA rules and everything.
But it's not just the CBA rules.
There's nothing that prevents teams from tackling out here at training camp every day.
Mike McCarthy said it's about what we understand about the injuries and the risks versus the rewards of that behavior.
You know, it says, "Hey, we got to keep our training staff, you know, with, with light work and not be getting guys injured in training camp."
He did say he'd admit that, hey, things like goal line are tough to do when you're not tackling to the ground.
But this will be the first Steelers training camp practice ever where there is no tackling.
Certainly going to be a very different next couple of weeks here at St. Vincent College.
There is a whole lot more than that that these guys talked about.
But I wanted to get you guys the highlights here right away.
A pile of coverage coming at SteelersNow.com.
Probably going to have about a dozen stories between now and when I talk to you guys next time.
Six o'clock right here, YouTube, audio platforms, me and Smitty.
We'll have the full rundown.
This is going to be a big episode.
Can't wait for that one.
Until then, I think I'm going to leave you with this.
So a beautiful morning here.
We dodged the rain after the beginning and a really productive day here in terms of the news and getting the news out of the way.
One more thing I did want to touch on from Omar Khan did talk about the contract extension situation with Joey Porter Jr. Said that nothing is imminent on that front, that he would like to extend him and some other players and said sometimes that's not always feasible based on the salary cap.
But it doesn't sound like a deal is forthcoming when it comes to Porter or Keanu Benton or Spencer Anderson or any of the other Steelers players.
That's usually the way it goes.
Usually if those talks are going to happen, they play out over the course of training camp.
Usually an agent at some point will visit.
But he did say that he expects players that are under contract to practice.
So we'll see if that is going to be a change.
Obviously, guys like Deontay Johnson, Minkah Fitzpatrick had held in over the last few years.
That had been a trend where guys would report to training camp.
T.J. Watt did it in 2021, but not actually participate.
We'll see if that's going to continue as well.
So still a lot to look forward to, even though we got a lot of the news out of the way today.
Still a lot to look forward to on that first practice tomorrow.
Where is Broderick Jones?
How do the rest of the quarterback position go?
And is Joey Porter Jr.
Going to be out there?
Also, who's the slot corner?
Because with Ramsey down, I would have thought Dante Kent maybe would have been one of the possibilities to step up there.
But he also on the pup list.
So I assume Brandon Echols will get a bunch of that playing time, but we'll see how things go beyond that.
All kinds of football coming your way here at Steelers Now on the Steelers Now YouTube page.
So stick around for that.
More with me and Smitty, like I said, six o'clock.
We've got Brendan here as well.
So a ton of content coming up that we are really excited about.
Okay, until then, thanks for listening.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.
