Why did the Steelers schedule one less week of OTAs?

Earlier this week, I already brought up the fact that I’m frustrated having to wait until after Memorial Day for the Steelers to start Phase 3 of OTAs for 2025. With the NFL allowing as many as 10 days of practice, the Steelers have typically utilized all 10 days, albeit one was typically a team building exercise at a different location, before their final week of minicamp. I even recall in a previous year (I can’t recall which one) the Steelers canceled minicamp because they finished everything during OTAs.

I can understand if the team cancels their later practices because they feel they have implemented everything they need ahead of training camp. But why cut an entire week, and the week with an extra day, when the schedule was announced weeks ago?

Perhaps we’ll get an answer from Coach Tomlin whenever he speaks to the media, typically after the first day of OTA practices. We may get an answer that isn’t actually the answer because they can’t say their reasoning behind cutting the four practices.

I know not every NFL team utilizes all 10 OTAs in Phase 3. It is a great opportunity to get some quality teamwork done, even though it’s football in shorts, simply because they can run 11 on 11. So why was there a change of heart this year?

One easy explanation could be but the Steelers are trying to not overwork their players. Whether it be because of the soft tissue injuries last year or other complaints that may have been voiced through the NFLPA survey, maybe the team thought it was a better idea.

I actually have a couple more theories…

The Steelers have not yet announced when they will be reporting the training camp. It is important to remember that the Steelers are not allowed to be in pads right at the beginning of camp as they must have multiple practices only in “shells“ in order to ramp up their activity. Perhaps the Steelers wanted to report to training camp a few days earlier so they could get to the padded practice portion of training camp sooner. There are dates that the Steelers have to abide by when it comes to reporting to camp, but the Steelers were one of, if not the last, team to report in 2024. Perhaps the Steelers thought it would be a good trade-off to not do as many OTAs but then ask players to report a couple days sooner.

I have another crazy idea…

This one is a little out there and will probably never be known as it’s not something that team would admit. What if this has to do with Aaron Rodgers?

I believe the Steelers know that Aaron Rodgers is going to sign with them and when he is going to sign. Chances are he is not going to be there for OTAs and even mandatory minicamp but will join the team afterwards. I know there’s plenty of speculation from people who think he will be there just before minicamp, but I’m not holding out for that one bit.

So what would Aaron Rodgers have to do with the number of OTA practices?

Well, if the Steelers know he’s not going to sign until after offseason activities are complete, why try to do even more without the player you expect to be leading your offense? The Steelers can get plenty done with Mason Rudolph, but are they going to need additional reps for as many quarterbacks as they usually have? Do the Steelers think it would be more useful to have additional practices when Rodgers comes later in the summer at training camp then during May or June?

I could be way off on this. These two things could have nothing to do with each other. But the Steelers made us wait an extra week before getting reports from the practice field. During that time, my mind has been racing trying to think of other Steelers things to talk about, and this just happened to be where it went.

Maybe we’ll get an answer as to why there are only six Phase 3 OTA practices. Maybe we won’t. But for now, it’s just something else to talk about.