Lolley's OTA Thoughts: Barron vs. Bush ☕

Ben Roethlisberger's first pass with the offense vs. the defense?

Picked off by Joe Haden.

"You can throw balls all you want against air, but it’s good to have a defense out there," Roethlisberger said. "My first pass was intercepted by Joe. I told Joe I threw that one to him to get him ready for the year."

Roethlisberger had taken the team's offensive skill players down to his home in Georgia last week to enjoy themselves, get to know each other and throw the ball. But it's different working without a defense.

"It’s pretty important. Whether it’s young guys, rookies, guys we’ve brought in from other teams, it’s a new kind of challenge," Roethlisberger said. "That’s what makes it fun, too. You love the challenge. You love working with the guys. The communication, that will be the biggest thing — I want to talk to guys and tell them what I’m thinking. And they would tell me. (I’d ask), ‘Hey, did you feel good on your depth there?’ And just working things out. It’s definitely going to take some big focus."

Roethlisberger looked pretty sharp after that initial interception. The bet here is he's going to be ultra-focused throughout the process this season. And yes, he plans on being in attendance the majority of the time at these OTAs, a stark contrast to last season when he was here for the first session and then didn't come back until minicamp.

BUSH vs. BARRON

Mark Barron and Devin Bush are both new to this roster, so it's not unusual that there would be a learning curve for both players. That didn't stop the Steelers from continuing to throw a lot at Bush, their first-round draft pick.

In fact, according to Cameron Heyward, the rookie was making defensive play calls when he was out there with the starters.

"It’s the first day to get him used to us," Heyward said. "We were already kidding about when he was calling the plays, he’s got to get some bass in his voice. But that’s just us messing around. He’s going to be good, and we’ll break him in.”

Barron, signed as a free agent after his release by the Rams, and Bush, whom the Steelers traded up for in the first round to acquire with the 10th pick in the draft, split their time on the field.

“It’s a super learning experience,” Bush said. “The guys get to learn me, and I get to play alongside them and build some relationships. As long as you put your head in the playbook a couple minutes a day, start memorizing stuff and come out here and rep it, you start getting better and better.”

NELSON-HADEN DUO

The Steelers have a new starting cornerback duo in Haden and free-agent signing Steven Nelson — an intriguing combination — and the two are ready to work off of each other's styles.

"I'm still getting to know him. I just met him, not today, but the other day," Haden told me. "But he's capable of doing a lot of things, playing inside or outside."

The two talked a lot on the field Tuesday, with Nelson, who comes over after spending his first four seasons with the Chiefs, picking the brain of Haden, a 10-year veteran.

"I asked a lot of questions, just to see it from a different perspective," Nelson said. "A guy like that with a lot of experience, you want to see how he sees things."

Nelson had four interceptions last season for Kansas City. Haden led the Steelers last year with two. The Steelers had just eight as a team. Obviously, getting more interceptions in 2019 is a point of emphasis.

"They're preaching it a lot, catching the ball, just trying to create turnovers," Nelson said. "Even in our drills, it's about catching the ball."

That was why Haden was happy to hold onto Roethlisberger's first pass.

"Ben's a wily vet," Haden said. "That's just me trying to make a play."

The Steelers forced just 15 turnovers as a team in 2019. You can bet the emphasis will not only be on picking passes off, but forcing fumbles, as well. Fumbles can be a little more tricky, however, as the ball isn't round and can take funny bounces. If the Steelers are to improve their turnovers, interceptions would be the easier way to increase that number.

FIRST AND LAST

There was a lot of excitement on the field as the Steelers opened their first OTA session as a group. You could see it. You could sense it. Young guys were ready to put a helmet on and test their mettle against the vets. The vets were ready to put the 2018 season behind them and begin anew.

But let's focus now on the first and last players who were on the field.

The first was rookie linebacker Sutton Smith. He got out there a couple of minutes before anyone else this morning going through his stretching. A handful of other young guys came out soon thereafter, but Smith won the honors today.

The last player on the field? Jerald Hawkins.

The fourth-year offensive tackle is facing a big season. He missed his rookie year with a shoulder injury. He missed all of last season with a quad issue. In between, Hawkins got 48 snaps as an extra blocker in 2017, lining up as an extra tight end.

Yet, Mike Tomlin made sure when asked about the starting right tackle position at the NFL Meetings earlier this year to mention Hawkins being in the mix, along with Matt Feiler and Chuks Okorafor.

Hawkins appears to get the gravity of the situation. So, there he was, 20 minutes after everyone else had left the field, continuing to work on his strength and explosion.

JOHNSON BACK

It was good to see rookie Diontae Johnson back on the practice field after missing the second half of the first and all of the second day of rookie minicamp with an undisclosed minor injury.

A lot of people freaked out when Johnson was held out at the end of the earlier camp. After all, he was selected with one of the draft picks acquired in the trade with the Raiders for Antonio Brown. And, even though he was a third-round pick, he was the Steelers' second selection in the draft after Bush.

But the Steelers are going to slowly ease the rookie into things.

In fact, he and Roethlisberger weren't on the field at the same time a lot on this day.

"I threw one to the new guy, the rookie, so that was fun," Roethlisberger said.

That might be one more pass than Roethlisberger threw to James Washington in all of OTAs last year.

As mentioned above, Roethlisberger skipped out on these sessions last season after attending the first one. The bet here is he and Johnson will get more opportunities to work together in the coming weeks. But for now, the Steelers aren't going to rush Johnson. They're going to make sure he can handle what they're throwing at him. And that was a lot of work on the outside on the first day.

It makes sense. That's where he needs to get most comfortable in this offense. Once he gets a good understanding of that, then they'll start putting more on his plate.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY