Pads came back on Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ penultimate training camp practice, and tempers that have been brewing all camp finally reached a boiling point. While there were minor scuffles earlier in camp, Robert Spears-Jennings sparked the biggest scrum of the summer at the end of today’s practice.

“Biggest fight of camp to near end of practice Robert Spears-Jennings knocked down Max Hurleman along sideline. TE Lance Mason took exception and Spears-Jennings and Hurleman got into it,” Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora wrote on X. “Whole team came racing over to corner of the end zone.”

FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano shared a photo of the scrum, calling it a “huge brawl,” and noted that punches flew between two players. The entire team raced over to get involved for the first time all camp.

Mike McCarthy banned tackling, instead going with a thud tempo to preserve team health in Latrobe. That resulted in a noticeably lower level of intensity throughout camp. But when somebody breaks the rules and sends another player to the ground, tempers are bound to flare. That’s exactly what happened here between Spears-Jennings and Hurleman.

Maybe all the team needed to spice up practice was Elandon Roberts’ presense. Remember back to 2024, and he was one of the triggers for camp’s biggest fight after he took Justin Fields to the ground during an 11-on-11 period. Roberts wasn’t directly involved in this fight, but he helped set the tone and raise the intensity level at Sunday’s practice with both his words and his hard hitting.

Cam Heyward was asked on his podcast at the beginning of camp if no tackling meant no fights this year. He told everybody to “stay tuned.”

While fights can be disruptive in the middle of practice, this one happened at the very end of it. It sets up an intriguing final day of training camp practice Monday where McCarthy said the Steelers will focus on offense vs. defense compete periods.