Camp report: Pickett runs first-team offense in two-minute drill taken in Latrobe, Pa. (Steelers)

ABIGAIL DEAN / STEELERS

Kenny Pickett running a drill during Tuesday's practice in Latrobe.

LATROBE, Pa. -- One of the ways Mike Tomlin likes to end practice is with the two-minute drill. It's a football situation, and Tomlin specifically puts it at the end of practice to test players when they are sapped of energy.

Outside of one day where he shared reps with Mason Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky has exclusively seen all first-team reps in practice. But Tuesday, Kenny Pickett was the one who ran the first-team offense during the two-minute drill.

The offense had 1:01 on the clock with the ball on their own 47-yard line and one timeout. A touchdown was needed to win.

Pickett wound up unsuccessful in the drill, taking the offense down inside the 10-yard line after connecting with George Pickens on a deep ball down the right sideline. However, the offense ran out of time and Pickett's final heave to the end zone sailed over the head of Chase Claypool.

Rudolph also ran the two-minute drill, and like Pickett, he was unable to lead the offense into the end zone. Rudolph led the team down to the 11-yard line and had enough time to run four plays from there, but threw four straight incompletions.

With this coming off the heels of the Steelers' 32-25 preseason victory where Pickett posted a 132.6 quarterback rating and threw the game-winning touchdown, him earning any reps with the first team is a development that can't be ignored.

However, for those on the Pickett bandwagon who are getting excited that the rookie might be getting a legitimate chance at the starting spot above Trubisky, tap the brakes.

Simply, Trubisky is still the No. 1 guy. Until he plays poorly enough to lose the job -- and nothing about his performance in practice or in Saturday's preseason game suggests anything remotely close to that -- it will be his job come Week 1 in Cincinnati.

However, Pickett earned reps in seven shots ahead of Rudolph. He ran the two-minute drill alongside Trubisky Monday, then ran it ahead of Rudolph Tuesday. Pickett isn't in range of the starting job yet, but he is appearing to be much closer to winning the backup spot behind Trubisky.

There are only two more days of training camp in Latrobe, but there are still two more preseason games for Pickett to earn his way above Rudolph in the depth chart. Pickett has progressed more than the other two quarterbacks in camp, but he's also had the most amount of room to grow.

The biggest question for Pickett is if he can grow enough to convince Tomlin that he is capable of being the No. 2 guy.

MORE FROM PRACTICE

• Pickens continues to impress. It's almost a requirement at this point to put something that Pickens does in practice, but it's only because he keeps doing things worthy of recognition.

During one-on-ones, Pickens was lined up against Minkah Fitzpatrick on a few different occasions, and Pickens won the battle just about every time. The first time, Pickens got Fitzpatrick to bite on an out-and-up route and caught a beauty from Trubisky in the back right corner of the end zone. Another time, Pickens ran a dig with Fitzpatrick draped all over him. Pickens fought threw the contact and pulled in a ball away from his body using only his hands.

Tomlin looked on with a big smile on his face after that one.

As for the reason for the match up, Tomlin said, "The exposure was not for Minkah, it was for George." He also said the coaching staff intentionally paired them up for this drill.

It's only practice. But watching practice every day, Fitzpatrick doesn't give in on reps. He wants to win. For Pickens to get the better of an All-Pro safety, it's only more fuel for the Pickens Hype Train.

• It's not every day the punter does something noteworthy, but Pressley Harvin III made sure to change that precedent Tuesday.

Often when special teams is working on punt drills during practice, there isn't live punting. Danny Smith gets in there and coaches his players up on every little detail, from the guys on both sides of the line to the gunners and blockers on the outside. In Tuesday's practice, Harvin got the chance to punt several balls, and left a booming impression.

One he punted from the back of the end zone and landed it near the opposing 30-yard line. Another came off his foot around his own 10-yard line and cleared just inside the opposing 20-yard line. And these weren't low line drives. They had lots of hang time.

By the time Harvin was done, many of the fans in attendance rewarded Harvin with an applause.

Now, this is only practice, but he looks like a different guy. And with everything he went through last year, that's a wonderful development.

Karl Joseph (ankle) and Anthony Miller (shoulder) are done for the season. As part of a few different roster transactions, the Steelers placed both on the Reserve/Injured List. 

Miller's injury is unfortunate, but it provides guys such as Gunner Olszewski, Miles Boykin, Steven Sims and Tyler Vaughns a better shot at making the 53-man roster. Sims had a nice showing Saturday, pulling off a 38-yard punt return and a 38-yard run on a jet sweep. However, he dropped an easy pass during 11-on-11 Tuesday, and Vaughns dropped two easy ones.

These things can't happen when there's a real shot at a roster spot.

• Speaking of which, Jaylen Warren has emerged as one of the stories of camp, but Tomlin was very clear that his fumble during Saturday's game was well short of the standard. In turn, Warren carried a football around with him throughout the day. He did it after the morning's walkthrough, walking down the hill to practice and again leaving the field after practice.

Warren has turned a lot of heads during camp. But the fumbles need to be eradicated in order to solidify those chances. It's not something an undrafted guy will be able to get away with.

• As for other roster moves, the Steelers cut DT Doug Costlin, T Jake Dixon, P Cameron Nizialek and C Chris Owens. After practice concluded, the Steelers also claimed C Ryan McCollum off waivers from Detroit and waived C Nate Gilliam

The roster is now at 85 players. Teams must cut their rosters to 80 by 4:00 p.m. on Aug. 23. The final cut down to 53 players is Aug. 30.

Arthur Maulet (hamstring) and Master Teague III (low ankle) both left practice early today with injuries, but are considered day to day. Players such as Alex Highsmith (ribs), Montravius Adams (ankle), Derek Watt (shoulder), Marcus Allen (hamstring) and Calvin Austin III (foot) were on the field but not dressed in full pads to take part in practice.

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