LATROBE, Pa. -- The moment Mitch Trubisky's fingertips felt the football's laces at 2:36 p.m. on this wonky-weathered Wednesday at Saint Vincent College, not another syllable needed to be spoken on the scene's center-stage subject: He'll be the Steelers' quarterback, at least to start the 2022 season.
Now, never mind that his first pass of training camp sailed well behind Najee Harris.
Or that his second pass sunk too low for Chase Claypool.
Or that one especially loud fan in the bleachers alongside Chuck Noll Field had already seen enough and barked out, "GET PICKETT IN THERE!" to even louder laughter from the rest of the crowd of about 2,000-plus. And yeah, I'd love to think he was kidding, too.
Or that Trubisky's third pass, a high arc for George Pickens, was swatted away by Cam Sutton.
Or that the fourth, which in reality would've looked a lot like a Pressley Harvin punt, finally saw a completion, a 10-yarder to Claypool.
It doesn't matter. None of it does. And that couldn't have been clearer here.
Oh, Mike Tomlin wasn't about to cut out the coy act, for the second time in 48 hours. He had fun with reporters upon facetiously being asked after practice if one session had been were enough to pick between Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett, he quipped back with an impish grin: "I'm not. But ask me tomorrow."
No need to elaborate. As he'd told us Tuesday, "We're not going to micromanage or over-manage this quarterback competition. The depth chart will not rest on every throw. I know you guys will want to ask me every day and about every throw, but we're going to be a little more steady than that. I think it's important from a leadership perspective to not over-manage it, to not be too impulsive, so that's what I've relayed to those guys, and our actions will continue to display that mindset."
Immaterial. He's made up his mind.
Sure, we're all watching. And we'll keep watching, as he put it, every day and every throw. Imagine if we wouldn't. Been nearly two decades since we've had so much as a semblance of uncertainty at the sport's most important position. This is kinda cool, actually.
But the trail of clues Tomlin's now left stretches the length of Route 30 and might be no less set in cement.
All through OTAs and minicamp, this was the pecking order:
1. Trubisky
2. Rudolph
3. Pickett
4. Chris Oladokun
The pecking order in this practice:
Right. Nothing changed, other than Oladukun not taking a single rep. Each of the other three took exactly 12 snaps in the 11-on-11 sequences, and only Trubisky operated exclusively with the first-team offense.
If that's not enough, both Trubisky and Rudolph met with the media before this practice -- Pickett was ushered out the day before -- and both sounded very different about the approach they anticipate taking through this camp and preseason.
Trubisky talks casually -- as well as respectfully -- about becoming Ben Roethlisberger's successor.
"I just came here to be me," he'd say Wednesday before practice. "We understand that Ben has an amazing legacy here. We respect and honor that. But I can only come here and be me, Mitch Trubisky. So I'm coming here to compete, help lead these guys and do what I do on the field."
Dude went third-person, even.
On how he fits the Matt Canada scheme: "I feel like it fits really well. That's one of the things we're going to watch as things go. What's the identity we're trying to establish? Like I said, we're just trying to get the ball to the playmakers. But, when things break down, I'm looking forward to be able to use my feet and do things in that way. We'll just see where it goes. We're trying to establish an identity, but I feel like it fits very well."
Pontificating for the collective.
And when prodded about the alleged competition here, all he'd acknowledge is that Tomlin's advised him to not stress over camp performance: “It’s practice, so you gotta test throws. You gotta go let guys make plays. When you’re not thinking about it, that’s when you play your best, anyway.”
He knows. Just as he knows that Canada and his positional coach, Mike Sullivan, have entrusted him -- and him alone -- to assist the other three quarterbacks in picking up all the play-action Canada's about to infuse, now that Ben's gone.
Rudolph knows, too.
"You’re always competing somebody, no matter what team you’re on," he'd say Wednesday, also before practice, but coming across almost as defensive. "You’re competing against yourself, but you’re competing against somebody no matter what position you’re at on the field, whether it’s for a backup spot or a starting job, so that’s always going to be a part of playing quarterback. I welcome it, and I’m used to it."
And to his approach regarding stressing over camp performance: “I wanna be near-perfect on every throw, every handoff, every protection adjustment ... I put a lot of pressure on myself.”
Pickett, meanwhile, has no issue sharing that he's still feeling his way around.
"I spent a lot of the time we just had off studying and preparing and getting ready for this moment and this camp," he'd say Tuesday. "But it's a little different, obviously, when you go play, so I just want to get the reps under under my belt. I think every day, just like in spring, I'll get better and better and feel more comfortable."
Heard enough?
Only way Trubisky loses this job is he goes 100% rogue. I'm talking Neil-O'Donnell-seeking-out-Larry-Brown-in-the-flat rogue.
• This Diontae Johnson situation's ... odd.
For one, failing to participate fully in practices -- as he began doing Wednesday by stepping off to the side during team drills, as T.J. Watt did last summer and Minkah Fitzpatrick did this spring -- sends a signal that he sees himself in their class. He isn't close.
For another, Johnson and Tomlin don't appear to be on the same page, judging by each one saying that it's the other's decision as to whether or not he should stay out, followed by Tomlin firmly stating after this practice that it was Johnson's choice and that he'd rather talk about the surface temp of Pluto's plains than anything to do with Johnson.
For yet another, while Johnson watched from the sideline ...
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Diontae Johnson (18) checks a play card as the offense works on the field without him Wednesday in Latrobe.
... George Pickens and Calvin Austin might've been the day's top two performers on either side of the ball, the former coming down with two acrobatic catches (and nearly a third), and the latter sprinting away from the secondary for a 60-yard touchdown off a simple screen.
I'd strap that helmet back on, my man. This won't end well.
• Johnson's under contract, for anyone who doesn't know. He's due to make $2.79 million in this, the final year, meaning he'd be underpaid per market value based on having piled up 2,084 receiving yards the past two years.
But both parties, team and player, signed that contract. And the difference between Johnson and Watt/Fitzpatrick, beyond the glaringly obvious, is that he can be replaced. Not easily, but he can be. There's a quality corps in this camp.
Who'd replace T.J. or Minkah?
• Maybe there truly will be a QB competition here, only that it'd be Rudolph vs. Pickett.
Think about it. Say Pickett outproduces Rudolph in the preseason games alone. There are only three of those this year, of course, but both will get ample snaps with the first team likely reduced to participating in the middle exhibition. Pickett's got a legit, no-BS opportunity in that setting to show he's ready to take a stride forward faster than management might think.
Just saying. I don't mean to dismiss Pickett with what's written above. Rather, I'm pounding the point that Trubisky's going to be No. 1. And to repeat, I mean at least to start the 2022 season.
• Anyone who's really, really into this QB thing, our Chris Halicke's launched a for-real daily tracker.
• Anyone who's really, really into Johnson's contract, our Dale Lolley's got that covered.
• Kevin Dotson over Kendrick Green with all the reps at first-team left guard?
Yes, please. But Dotson's got to keep earning it. That's been a bit of an issue for him.
• Cam Sutton back in the slot?
Yes, please, with cherries on top. In fact, I'm in favor of any and all first-team assignments that were witnessed on this day, including quarterback, but this might've brought the biggest smile. Sutton's a wonderful weapon to have on the inside, and he showed enough outside in 2021 to feel confident if anything goes awry with Ahkello Witherspoon and/or Levi Wallace.
• T.J. blowing through Zach Gentry for a de facto TFL on Najee?
Yes, please ... except if you're Gentry and then get sent to the end zone for specialized blocking instructions from Alfredo Roberts, the tight ends coach:
• I can't promise that Pickens and Austin will stand out every day the way they did on this one, but I'm OK with predicting that extraordinary athleticism like theirs -- Pickens with the 6-3 frame and amazing body control, Austin with the breakneck speed -- tends not to stay under wraps.
Both could be a blast.
• Canada's got allllllllllllll the left-right stuff going already. We'll see, I guess.
• Readers often ask what makes the Steelers' setting have a family feel, so I snapped this quick pic to share here:
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Craig Wolfley watches the offensive line from the 10-yard line Wednesday in Latrobe.
That's Craig Wolfley, the lifelong guard, keeping such a close eye on the new offensive line -- the man must see the rest of the field like a dog sees rainbows -- that he wandered right out onto the field to find a better angle. And I'm here to attest that there's no circumstance in which anyone here, Tomlin included, would ever speak a peep about it.
Love that. Love him. Beautiful.
• Hate to keep swooning, but it's so good to be back at this place. If anyone's reading this loves football and has never been here ... change that. It's the Steelers in their purest, most natural habitat.
