Other Steelers QBs get work while Ben Roethlisberger sits out practice

Ben Roethlisberger’s training camp regimen in recent seasons has been to sit out every third day of practice. He does a full workout one day, a partial practice the next and then he takes a day off.

So it seemed to be noteworthy Saturday when Roethlisberger did not practice for the second day in a row. Particularly when the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, who is entering his 16th season, was wearing a black compression sleeve on his calf and ankle Saturday while watching Joshua Dobbs, Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges take all of the reps.

Coach Mike Tomlin, though, said Roethlisberger is not dealing with a minor injury. Instead, he chalked it up to circumstances, such as the two-minute drill Dobbs and Rudolph ran at the end of practice.

“We’ve seen Ben in enough two minutes,” Tomlin said. “As we push into preseason football, the guys that could be in position to execute two minutes in Week 1 or Week 2 of the preseason are the guys that need the reps. We wanted to show homage to that.”

None of the three players who exited early Friday night, linebackers Vince Williams (hamstring) and Anthony Chickillo (hamstring) and wide receiver Diontae Johnson (hip), returned to practice. Tomlin classified their status as day-to-day. The Steelers hold their annual night practice at Heinz Field on Sunday but have a scheduled day off Monday.

Also sitting out practice were guard Ramon Foster (day off), linebacker Mark Barron (unspecified), free safety (Sean Davis), cornerback Artie Burns (day off) and linebacker T.J. Watt (PUP list). Long snapper Kam Canaday (groin) returned to practice, and wide receiver Donte Moncrief (finger) did individual work.

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