Pittsburgh Steelers biggest takeaways from 12th training camp practice

Mike Moraitis

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Pittsburgh Steelers biggest takeaways from 12th training camp practice image

As their pursuit of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk continues to dominates the headlines, the Pittsburgh Steelers took the practice field on Wednesday for their latest session of training camp.

Earlier in the day, head coach Mike Tomlin revealed that quarterback Russell Wilson would be among those not playing in the preseason opener on Friday. Instead, Justin Fields will start and get the first-team reps.

Tomlin reiterated that Wilson is still QB1, but did at least leave the door open for Fields to pull off an upset.

"You guys saw the depth chart I released yesterday. That is real," Tomlin said, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor.

"Very much is a competition," he added. "What happens in stadium is weighted heavier than what happens in a practice setting because it's more game-like."

As far as practice goes, Wilson and Fields once again split first-team reps in different periods. Here's how that went and more from Wednesday based on observations from beat writers.

Steelers training camp takeaways

Several players return to practice

According to Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot, defensive back Grayland Arnold, linebackers Patrick Queen and Jeremiah Moon, and defensive linemen DeMarvin Leal and Keeanu Benton all returned to full participation.

Injuries to keep an eye on

More first-team reps for Troy Fautanu

One day after getting all the first-team reps at right tackle for the first time in training camp, the Steelers deployed Fautanu there with the starters once again on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Broderick Jones and Dan Moore rotated at left tackle.

Another flash from Zach Frazier

Frazier has been coming on strong of late with flashes in recent practices. He made another impressive block on Wednesday, according to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Tuesday, he tossed aside fellow West Virginia product Beanie Bishop Jr. crashing in from the slot corner spot. Wednesday, Frazier was up on the second level trailing Jonathan Ward on a screen catch when he pancaked a defensive back in space.

Frazier hasn't seen any first-team reps yet, but perhaps that'll change in the weeks ahead. Right now, Nate Herbig looks primed to start come Week 1.

What Wilson and Fields did

Russell Wilson took the first snap in 11-on-11 and split reps with Justin Fields. The same happened during seven shots.

Per Brian Batko, Fields went an unofficial 12-for-14 during 11-on-11 period. He adds that Fields was "helped by his pass catchers on some (passes) and hurt on others."

Here's more on Wilson's day, per Bob Labriola of Steelers.com:

In 5 of his 12 NFL seasons, Wilson completed better than 65 percent of his passes, and he has shown a high level of accuracy and touch on his throws throughout his first training camp with the Steelers.

During 7-Shots, Wilson would've been assigned an incompletion for not connecting with WR Van Jefferson on the third play of the drill, but the throw was delivered on time and was accurate. It only was incomplete because Jefferson didn't get his head turned around quickly enough to see the ball.

During a different period later in the day's practice, however, Wilson and Jefferson hooked up on a beautiful play where the quarterback threw the receiver open, with the result being a perfectly placed ball that was caught in stride at the right pylon for a touchdown.

Kick return work

Bad news for Quez

Per Chris Adamski of TribLive.com, Quez Watkins is not doing well in his quest for a starting role.

Quez Watkins has seemed to lose ground to Jefferson, Calvin Austin III and Scotty Miller for a “starting” WR spot. Watkins had a drop on a short ball over the middle Wednesday, though he did make a nice play in 11-on-11 action soon thereafter.

Meanwhile, Adamski notes that Calvin Austin "made a handful of plays," including a pair of touchdown grabs in 7-on-7 work. 

Mike Moraitis

Mike Moraitis Photo

After cutting his teeth with Bleacher Report, Mike Moraitis has covered the Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans for FanSided, and the Titans and New York Giants for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. On top of his duties with Sporting News, Mike is the managing editor and lead writer for Titans Wire.