The Steelers want a physical camp. Mike McCarthy’s answer: Thud up, no tackling

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Earlier in his coaching career, Mike McCarthy leaned into pushing the limits of his players during training camp.

Two-a-days in full pads for two weeks straight? Sure. Practices scheduled for two hours that would sometimes bleed into three? You bet.

Not so much anymore.

“I'd go to jail today if I tried to do that,” McCarthy joked.

Or at least, the NFL's version of it. The league has evolved over the last 30 years. The Collective Bargaining Agreement banned two-a-days long ago. There are now specific time limits on practice, and they are policed down to the minute.

So McCarthy has made it a point to get ahead of the curve. Just how far ahead? Well, when the Pittsburgh Steelers walk onto Chuck Noll Field on Monday for their first padded practice of the McCarthy Era, they'll do it with one particular instruction in mind: no tackling. At all.

While most of the changes to camp at Saint Vincent College have been subtle as the team transitions from Mike Tomlin to McCarthy — the volume of the music over the loudspeakers is softer, for example — the decision to do everything but take a teammate to the ground is not.

Tomlin's 19 years in Pittsburgh often began with an “iron sharpens iron” approach during the club's annual stay at the small school tucked in the western Pennsylvania hills. Don't get McCarthy wrong. He plans to run a physical camp, but the “Tempered Steel” mantra the club has adopted — one printed on shirts worn by players and staff — is real in more ways than one.

“It’s a risk-assessment decision,” McCarthy said.

Banning tackling during camp is hardly new. A significant chunk of NFL teams, Pittsburgh's longtime rival the Baltimore Ravens included, have adopted the policy in recent years.

Still, these are the Steelers, who have historically embraced — by reputation if not always in reality — the idea of being a throwback of sorts. So yeah, expect an adjustment period.

“Obviously, I love to tackle,” inside linebacker Payton Wilson said. “It's been great in the past to get that in before the first preseason game, but that's what preseason games are for.”

The Steelers instead will “thud up," meaning defenders will try to wrap up ball carriers but not take them all the way to the ground. It's commonplace during the regular season, but not always in early August.

McCarthy stressed there are tools the team can use to refine their tackling technique without driving each other into the turf. From monitoring a player's positioning using GPS to video analysis to other “sports science” resources to coaching points that have been part of the game since its inception, McCarthy is confident the Steelers will be ready when they need to be ready.

“The long stride, short stride, the specifics of how the fundamentals are being taught to the approach, the strike, the wrap, the finish,” he said. “So these are constants that are taught throughout our whole team.”

The shift will require as much of a mental adjustment as a physical adjustment. Defensive tackle Cam Heyward's first 15 camps were defined in part by what Tomlin likened to full-on sparring as opposed to shadowboxing. There were certain days during camp — Family Day and the team's Friday Night Lights practice at nearby Greater Latrobe High School — when Heyward knew the intensity level would spike.

“It's an alpha sport,” the longest-tenured Steeler said. “And (we'd) just ramp it up.”

McCarthy still wants to do just that, but in a way designed to get the defending AFC North champions to Week 1 as healthy as possible.

His philosophical evolution has more to do with the way the NFL operates in 2026 than any concern about the age of the team he is taking over, though it should be noted that several of Pittsburgh's highest-profile defenders — Heyward, outside linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive back Jalen Ramsey — are all in their 30s.

The way McCarthy figures it, getting defenders in the right position to drop an opponent is the hardest part of the process. Once they get there, finishing the play should be the easy part.

That doesn't mean the Steelers won't be searching for gray areas. Linebacker Patrick Queen spent the first four seasons of his career in Baltimore, where former head coach John Harbaugh placed a “no tackling” edict. That didn't stop Queen and teammate Roquan Smith from “tackling everybody” one day just to prove a point.

Queen doesn't expect to go quite that far over the next few weeks. Besides, it's not like the Steelers are going to run around with flags on their hips like they're preparing for the 2028 Olympics.

“At the end of the day, you still got a chance to put yourself on somebody, put your hip on somebody,” he said. “Whatever you do pre-tackle, it's the same as putting somebody on the ground.”

Besides, there will still likely be drills like “backs on backers,” a perennial camp highlight in which running backs work on pass protection by fending off linebackers charging at them at full speed. It's a drill that helped running back Jaylen Warren first capture the coaching staff's attention as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2022, and one that in many ways lets football players be football players in the most primal way possible.

“We got dogs on the team,” Warren said. “The competition is what leads to that. I don't mind that at all.”

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Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker, right, attempt to punch the ball from the grasp of wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., during the NFL team's camp in Latrobe, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., right, breaks up a pass intended for wide receiver Dk Metcalf during the NFL team's camp in Latrobe, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy watches the NFL team's camp in Latrobe, Pa., Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Max Iheanachor, right, attempts to block linebacker T.J. Watt (90) during the NFL team's camp in Latrobe, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith (56), left, is blocked by offensive tackle Troy Fautanu during the team's NFL football training camp in Latrobe, Pa., on Friday, July 31, 2026.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — An employee was among three people killed in a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in southern Idaho, the fast-food chain’s owner said.

“My heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I've shed. We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight,” In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder said in a statement released early Sunday on social media. “In-N-Out will be mourning with the families and praying for them as they tread through a very painful season.”

The FBI on Sunday encouraged the public to submit images and videos related to the shooting Saturday in Twin Falls that left seven other people wounded, some critically.

The In-N-Out had opened just about a week earlier, on July 24, as part of the California-based company’s recent expansion to Idaho.

Snyder did not identify the worker. Officials were still trying to notify relatives of victims and so were not yet releasing the names, ages or other details about the people hurt in the shooting, Twin Falls spokesperson Josh Palmer said Saturday.

Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, Palmer said. He did not know if the suspect was included in the fatality count. Some of the people injured were in critical condition, Palmer said.

Police were still trying to determine the shooter's identity and motive, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said in a news conference earlier Saturday.

“We believe the threat to the community is over,” Hicks said. “It was a very chaotic scene.”

Another police briefing was planned for Sunday afternoon.

Palmer said investigators were interviewing witnesses to the shooting. The restaurant is in a busy shopping plaza, and hundreds of people were in the area when it happened around 2 p.m.

Lane Koehn, 34, said he was at a stoplight near the In-N-Out when he saw a person with an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru. A man with a pistol started firing at the shooter.

He then saw someone in an In-N-Out uniform drag a person, also wearing a uniform, bleeding from a gunshot wound to her chest across the parking lot. The employee, Koehn and the man with the pistol stayed until paramedics arrived for her.

“She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn said.

Koehn said he was told by police to evacuate because the shooting was still active.

He said the shooter fired at least three or four rounds and it was not clear whether or not anyone in particular was targeted.

Video taken by a driver from across the street captured a shooter, who appeared to be dressed in black, walking up to a white car carrying a long rifle, opening the driver-side door and popping the trunk. The person then walked to the trunk and reached inside. At that point the driver who shot the video left quickly, fearing that the man might be getting more weapons.

Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, and her mother went to In-N-Out for lunch Saturday afternoon. While waiting in the drive-thru line, they saw people running across the road and workers bolting out of the restaurant. At first, Dodaro thought there might have been a fire, but then a man directing traffic in a reflective vest said there was a shooter.

“So that’s when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary,” Dodaro said in a text message to The Associated Press.

Nayeli Rodriguez, 40, of Burley, was inside waiting for food with her daughters when she heard shots from the kitchen. An employee said it was a shooting and told people to get down. Rodriguez said an older man tried to protect her and her daughters, and they were among the last to run outside.

“We were trying to get as far as we could and some angels let us in their car,” Rodriguez said, also via text message. “I left my car there in the parking lot.”

Police said multiple people were taken to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center. Hospital spokesperson Taylor Marschner said in a statement that it was “working closely with law enforcement and emergency responders as they manage the situation.”

Twin Falls, a city of about 56,000 people, is about 130 miles (205 kilometers) southeast of Boise and about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the Nevada border.

This image provided by KMVT shows the scene of a shooting that started at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026 in Twin Falls, Idaho. (KMVT via AP)