We’re getting closer and closer to actual football, people. Can you feel it coming? In two weeks time we’ll be discussing the first real deal, all substance, no filler, football game action of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 campaign. Just 11 more days to go.
While we may still have a short wait until the season kicks off, the Steelers have not been idle. Last week, Ryan and Ryland each took a crack at predicting the final 53-man roster Pittsburgh would submit to be in compliance with league rules.
Now, in what is an annual tradition, they’ll look back at their short-lived predictions and take stock of what they got right, what surprised them, what moves could still be coming, and what this all means for the Steelers in the season ahead.
What was the biggest surprise from the Steelers’ cutdown day?
RP: There are always a few surprises when the Steelers announce their initial 53-man roster, but it’s important to remind our readers that the roster that gets submitted at the deadline is rarely the same roster that suits up in Week 1. Over the next few days, there is certain to be movement as teams comb through players that have been cut, sign players to their practice squad, and use injury designations to keep certain players around.
One of the biggest surprises has to be Donte Kent making the roster, despite long odds. Kent, a 23-year-old rookie cornerback drafted in the seventh round out of Central Michigan, missed most of the summer with injury and failed to appear in a preseason game as a result. While I was reading the writing on the wall about the eventual release of Beanie Bishop, Kent’s inclusion on the roster did throw me for a loop.
There’s a strong chance the Steelers could be navigating some waiver rule red tape with this move. While it’s a bit complicated, one popular theory is that Kent might be a candidate to go on injured reserve in a few days to allow Pittsburgh to sneak him past waivers. In that case, they might have a spoken agreement with Chuck Clark for him to return as the third safety.
As is, the Steelers only have three true safeties on the initial roster, and Miles Killebrew is around for his special teams’ prowess, not his ability in coverage. Jalen Ramsey will play the position in some capacity as the Steelers move him around in various packages, and perhaps that’s convinced the team they can be light at the position.
There’s also a possibility that the Steelers like Kent enough from their limited time with him, and if he can continue to practice in full, he might hold a spot while Cory Trice Jr. spends the first four weeks of the season on the IR with a designation to return.
Last year, Jalen Elliott and Darius Rush were two defensive backs who made the initial roster but weren’t around for long. My suspicion is that either Clark or James Pierre — a good special teamer, albeit an underwhelming cornerback — rejoin the roster shortly unless they receive a better offer elsewhere.
RB: The Steelers’ choice to keep eight defensive backs initially — one being Donte Kent — would be my choice as well. I’ll also echo that the roster today is all but guaranteed to be different from the one we actually see on Week 1.
With that in mind, while I didn’t predict it, I’m not shocked to see the Steelers keep four quarterbacks, as it’s pretty clear that number will reduce to three shortly. The same goes for the team’s choice to keep eight defensive linemen. I thought it would be seven, but given the Derrick Harmon injury and lack of defensive backs, it makes sense that D-line is where an extra roster spot was assigned.
So what was a genuine surprise? The punter battle, of course.
While the eventual winner, Corliss Waitman, was more than deserving, there weren’t many in the Steelers mediasphere who didn’t see Cameron Johnston getting the job. The latter, even though he was coming off a season-ending injury in 2024, was on a big contract for a punter with lots of veteran experience and a big leg.
Johnston seemed like a fairly obvious choice, especially after Waitman had a mild shank in the team’s final preseason game (35 yards — not horrible, but not NFL-caliber, either).
But in retrospect, Waitman had a lot going for him over the summer. While not massive — we’re talking punter salaries — he saved the Steelers some cap space (Waitman is making $1.1 million this year compared to Johnston, who was on Year 2 of a three-year, $9 million deal).
Waitman is also younger (age 30 to Johnston’s 33) and not coming off a significant lower-body injury. Plus, he has the most familiarity as a holder for Chris Boswell, having played in 18 career regular season games for the Steelers; Johnston has played in around half of one.
Most importantly, Waitman outperformed Johnston when it came to hangtime in the preseason, a number that almost certainly caught the eye of the Steelers’ coaches.
So, while I’ll admit I was one of many to be surprised by the Steelers’ decision at punter, even one of the more unexpected moves of the cutdown process still made some sense.
What’s the Steelers’ strongest position group?
RB: Look, it’s probably outside linebacker. It’s been that way for a while. It will probably continue to be that way in 2025.
But the group has had some recent health struggles between Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig, and T.J. Watt will turn 31 in October. I’ll throw a new contender out there: cornerback.
Sure, age is an issue there too. Darius Slay is 34 and Jalen Ramsey is soon-to-be 31. At a position that depends heavily on athleticism, it’s a worrying sign! But like Watt, Slay and Ramsey are both coming off of excellent seasons even if they weren’t quite at the levels they hit in their respective primes.
And boundary cornerback Joey Porter Jr., from the same draft class as Herbig, is an imperfect but ascending player who’s proven himself as a borderline CB1 in recent seasons.
At face value, this is an impressive group but not quite on the level of the Pittsburgh outside linebacker corps. However, I’d argue it’s significantly harder to build strong cornerback depth in the NFL than it is at pass rusher. A lot of teams have a good rotation of edge rushers — far less are three deep at cornerback, and the Steelers even have a good CB4 in Brandin Echols.
The Steelers’ cornerback room doesn’t have a T.J. Watt-level player, but ultimately, it might be the secondary depth, not the front seven, that separates the Pittsburgh defense from the other top units in the NFL.
RP: The easy answer for strongest position group, at least when they’re all healthy, remains the outside linebackers.
T.J. Watt is freshly paid and remains one of the premier pass rushers in the league. Alex Highsmith is as good a second fiddle as any team could hope for. Nick Herbig is freaky fast and has demonstrated repeatedly that he’s learned some of the best tricks Watt, Highsmith, and the coaching staff could teach him.
If there is one weak link in the group currently, it’s rookie Jack Sawyer. This preseason, Sawyer faced some of the problems Ryland and I thought he might encounter at the NFL level in our post-NFL Draft reactions. He isn’t twitched up like Watt or Herbig, and he doesn’t have many counters in his arsenal yet for when his bull rush is ineffective. Still as the fourth guy in the rotation, the Steelers could do a lot worse.
This selection hinges a lot on health, however, and Highsmith and Herbig have each been dealing with injuries. Highsmith looks ready to go for Week 1, but Herbig could miss the opener.
The Steelers defensive backfield and tight end room could each make a case for strongest as well.
Which position group is the weakest?
RP: To me, that honor will either go to the wide receiver room or the offensive tackle group. We’ve used plenty of space to discuss the shortages of both groups so I won’t drag out the point.
At receiver, there isn’t a player behind DK Metcalf that has a proven track record that will scare opposing defenses. Calvin Austin III was a good role player in 2024, but he’s been dealing with injuries and wasn’t a high-volume threat. Roman Wilson will hopefully build off his promising preseason, but it’s too soon to know how consistent he will be on a week-to-week basis.
Meanwhile at offensive tackle, Troy Fautanu has been impressive this summer and Broderick Jones has started to trend in the right direction. Still, we’ll need to see it for four quarters each and every week before we can rest easy about those two.
That said, I’m more concerned by the lack of depth behind them. Calvin Anderson is not inspiring, and while I was right in predicting Andrus Peat would make the roster, I believe he is better suited as a guard who can play tackle in an emergency than as the Steelers’ third-best tackle, which he likely is.
RB: Ryan hit the nail on the head with the position groups above. Something I’ve learned about the NFL over time is that a lot of rosters look good on paper ahead of Week 1, but depth tends to be the biggest factor when it comes to a team surviving the full season.
The Steelers’ starters can probably keep up with any team in the NFL, but if Metcalf, Fautanu, or Zach Frazier miss significant time, all that optimism goes out the window. And injuries aren’t just a threat in the NFL season. They’re a guarantee to hit at some point.
Outside of offensive line and wide receiver, I think safety is also a potential worry. The Steelers are putting a lot on Juan Thornhill’s plate ahead of 2025; he was an OK starter in Cleveland last year, now tasked with the Minkah Fitzpatrick role in Pittsburgh.
That’s already a mild concern. And if Thornhill goes down with injury, the Steelers don’t have any safeties with his skill set.
DeShon Elliott was fantastic last year playing in the box, but he has deficiencies in coverage. Miles Killebrew is on the roster purely for special teams reasons. And even if Chuck Clark, who was released on Tuesday, does circle back to the 53, he’s more of a strong safety than a post defender.
As Ryan mentioned earlier, Jalen Ramsey, who will likely see a lot of safety snaps anyway in 2025, is a coverage-capable answer if Thornhill goes down. But then there’s a domino effect that hurts the cornerback room.
The situation at safety is nowhere near as dire as those at wide receiver or offensive tackle. But it’s hard to feel incredibly confident there ahead of the season, either.
Who are some cuts you’d like to see added to the practice squad?
RB: He hasn’t been going up against starting-caliber offensive tackles, but Eku Leota has some juice in his game and should be the Steelers’ de facto OLB5 this season. He was toasting offensive lines all preseason and has played his way onto the practice squad and some possible gameday activations.
Undrafted wide receivers Max Hurleman and Ke’Shawn Williams should also be strong contenders for the practice squad. Hurleman made some plays this preseason and his special teams background could make him a valuable name to stash. Williams has shown more as a receiver than names such as Robert Woods or Brandon Johnson (another possible practice squad addition), and has some talent as a punt returner.
Beanie Bishop Jr. was a somewhat surprising cut who started around half of the Steelers’ games last season and had some nice moments, including a two-interception game against future Steeler Aaron Rodgers. He had his struggles and it’s good he’s no longer in the starting lineup, but he’d be a quality practice squad name to keep around.
Kicker Ben Sauls is also a name to watch. If he doesn’t land with another NFL team, retaining him as a Chris Boswell insurance policy would be a great move for Pittsburgh.
With veteran spots also an option for the practice squad, I wouldn’t mind seeing Mark Robinson stick around in Pittsburgh. Dylan Cook, Max Scharping, and James Pierre (if he doesn’t end up back on the active roster) would be good depth names as well.
And of course, Julius Welschof is a solid depth outside linebacker who should slide into the international pathway exemption practice squad spot for yet another year.
RP: If they aren’t planning to bring him back in a few days, like we discussed earlier, I’d like to see Chuck Clark make the roster. J.J. Galbreath is a tight end I’d like to see get some reps to develop further. The same goes for rookie safety Sebastion Castro.
And, of course, the 2025 Isaac Redman Award winner Lew Nichols III and Trey Sermon are some running backs I’d like to keep in the stable.
Is the 2025 roster better than the 2024 version?
RP: I think it has to be.
The more we watched the defensive backfield the summer, the more pumped we got about that group’s potential. Ramsey, Darius Slay Jr., Juan Thornhill, and Brandin Echols are all looking like big improvements in their roles, and I expect a big bounce back year from Joey Porter Jr., who I don’t think had as bad a 2024 as some would have you believe.
Several promising 2024 rookies are either back healthy (Fautanu, Roman Wilson) or are poised to improve upon their rookie debut (Zach Frazier, Payton Wilson, Mason McCormick).
I believe Aaron Rodgers will be more consistently able to keep the offense moving than Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, even if he’s nowhere close to his prime.
I believe Kaleb Johnson is an upgrade over Najee Harris as a playmaker, though he will need some time to catch up to Harris in pass protection.
RB: As it applies once again, here’s how I answered this question last year:
The short answer is unequivocally “yes.” The long answer is “by how much?”
As Ryan points out, the Steelers’ young core has another year of experience under their belts — especially on the offensive line. To varying degrees, Aaron Rodgers is an upgrade over Russell Wilson, Kaleb Johnson is a better scheme fit than Najee Harris, and D.K. Metcalf should be more consistent than George Pickens.
In the secondary, the Steelers essentially swapped Jalen Ramsey for Minkah Fitzpatrick. Who’s the better pro can be up for debate, but the Thornhill-Ramsey pairing allows Pittsburgh to start a stronger 11 on defense than Fitzpatrick-Bishop at safety and slot corner, respectively.
Darius Slay should be an upgrade over Donte Jackson and Derrick Harmon looks far more impactful than Larry Ogunjobi. Plus, Jonnu Smith is a positive addition for the passing game.
Plus, the Steelers just didn’t lose much talent in free agency in 2025, and they replaced the departures with improved names on paper.
Still, “better” is relative. It doesn’t have anything to do with being a Super Bowl contender. The Steelers were sunk by defensive injuries, a poor offensive line and wide receiver room, and underwhelming quarterback play in 2024. That can absolutely happen again in 2025.
With weak depth on offense and a past-his-prime Aaron Rodgers, it’s still difficult to see this team keeping up with the AFC’s elite.
With confidence, though, I can say this team looks to be a lot more entertaining than last year’s version.
Join in on Steelers R&R by sharing your takes on this week’s topics. What are your thoughts on the Steelers’ initial 53-man roster? Feel free to pitch future questions in the comment section or on Twitter/X: tag @_Ryland_B or @RyanParishMedia, or email us at steelersreadnreact@gmail.com.
