Vacation over, Roethlisberger returns to voluntary Steelers practice

Fresh off a family vacation, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returned to the practice field Wednesday after missing the past seven voluntary offseason workouts.

He wondered what the fuss was all about.

Roethlisberger said the vacation was planned before the organized team activity schedule was released even though the Steelers historically hold OTAs on Tuesdays through Thursdays from mid-May until mid-June.

“If coach asks me to be here every day, I'd be here every day, but he hasn't asked me to do that,” Roethlisberger said.

Until Wednesday, Roethlisberger had missed every session since the first one. Wide receiver Antonio Brown also has attended just two practices, missing the past seven.

“The time I was gone with my family was an awesome opportunity for other quarterbacks to get reps,” Roethlisberger said. “I know those guys really enjoyed it and were thanking me for it. It's really just a person by person, team by team feel thing.”

The Steelers hold their final OTA session Thursday before conducting a mandatory three-day minicamp next week.

Randy Fichtner, the team's quarterback coach, replaced Todd Haley as offensive coordinator after the season. Roethlisberger said he is familiar with the system Fichtner is implementing.

“I've worked with Randy for eight years now,” he said. “He's not a new guy coming in that the (extra) work is necessary. We've got a lot of the same guys back on offense and a lot of his plays we've done before and are things I've done for a long time.”

Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jrutter@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tribjoerutter.