Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs and minicamp dates released

Football in shorts.

That is how Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin describes the Spring workouts, and those include OTAs and minicamp. Nonetheless, as much as coach Tomlin might despise those workouts they are a key part of getting young players acclimated and preparing the team for the rigors of training camp, the preseason and the grind of a full 16-game regular season.

The team announced the dates for OTAs and minicamp Thursday, and they are listed below courtesy of Steelers.com:

PHASE ONE
Monday, April 20: The first two weeks of the program with activities limited to strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only

PHASE TWO
Monday, May 4 - Thursday, May 21: Three weeks during which the on-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills, as well as team practice conducted on what the CBA refers to as a "separates" basis. No live contact, or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.

ROOKIE MINICAMP
May 8-10: The NFL Draft will be held on Thursday-Saturday, April 30-May 2, and the Steelers will hold their rookie minicamp the following weekend. Starting on May 11, any rookies whose colleges already have held graduation ceremonies may stay in Pittsburgh and take part in the final days of Phase Two.

PHASE THREE/OTAs
Tuesday, May 26 - Consists of the next four weeks, during which teams may conduct 10 days of organized team practice activity, or OTAs. During OTAs, there is no live contact permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are allowed.

The Steelers are scheduled to begin their OTAs on Tuesday, May 27 - the day after Memorial Day - and they will have three sessions that week, three more the following week, and then four the week after that. The specific dates for the Steelers' 10 OTAs are:
May 26, May 27, May 28,
June 2, June 3, June 4,
June 8, June 9, June 10, and June 11.

MANDATORY MINICAMP
June 16-18 - The offseason program then will conclude with a mandatory three-day minicamp on June 16-18.

When minicamp is over, then there is approximately a month before training camp opens at Saint Vincent College.

Steelers Nation, set your calendars appropriately...