Steelers football is back, and so is BTSC’s takeaways column.
The Mike McCarthy era got off to a promising start in Thursday’s 19-point win over Green Bay, and as always, there’s plenty to learn from the game.
1. It’s just the preseason
I’ve started every preseason Week 1 takeaways column with this section since I started this series. It’s a necessary disclaimer for all the takeaways, overreactions and analysis to follow in the month of August.
Preseason football is fun. It’s an important part of the roster-building process.
And it certainly gives us some key insights into how the team will operate. But it doesn’t have a lot in common with the regular season product.
Schemes aren’t necessarily vanilla — the Steelers put some interesting ideas out on Acrisure Stadium’s new field Thursday — but those plays are still carried out by variations of the 90-man roster that haven’t built much chemistry with each other. Due to teams rotating and pulling different combinations of starters and backups, the matchups between teams are rarely even. And coaches care more about testing players in various scenarios than the final score, which is, of course, meaningless at the end of the day.
Trust me, I’ve found the “Drew Allar is the Steelers’ next franchise quarterback” posts as entertaining as anyone. But don’t buy into the hype — or some of the less optimistic narratives — just yet. Preseason football isn’t real football. And even if it was, there’s still plenty of time for things to change.
2. The Steelers’ quarterback battle gets off to a strong start
Now for the overreactions: The Steelers have their next franchise quarterback in Drew Allar! Maybe they have two or three — Will Howard and Mason Rudolph looked pretty good out there too, no?
In all seriousness, though, all three of the Steelers’ passers played well enough last night that how the quarterback hierarchy will shape up heading into the regular season hasn’t gotten any clearer.
Mason Rudolph was ruthlessly efficient, going 10/11 for 93 yards to start. His best play of the game was probably his lone incompletion, where the veteran QB2 channeled his inner Ben Roethlisberger to heave what would’ve been a touchdown pass if rookie receiver Germie Bernard had been able to get a second foot cleanly in-bounds.
Outside of that play, it wasn’t a spectacular performance, but Rudolph looked like a quarterback who’s been-there, done-that — an attractive trait for a prospective Aaron Rodgers backup.
Next up was 2024 sixth-rounder Will Howard, playing in his first game since the 2024-25 College Football Playoff National Championship, believe it or not. He looked impressively composed despite the long break. Howard put up another efficient stat line — 7/9 for 86 yards — highlighted by a two-minute drill touchdown drive to end the first half.
Like Rudolph, Howard’s best play came on an-almost touchdown pass: a well-layered seam pass to tight end Robert Tonyan that placed the Steelers on the 1-yard-line.
Coming out of college, Howard was never seen as some high-end athlete or arm talent, but he made some throws off-platform and on the move Thursday night, which was an encouraging side of his game to see.
The last quarterback to play for the Steelers was rookie third-rounder Drew Allar, who followed up Rudolph and Howard’s almost-touchdowns with three real scores: the first on the ground on a successful read-option, and the last two on short, rollout passes to fellow rookies Kaden Wetjen and Riley Nowakowski.
Pre-draft, the one-liner on Allar was that he’s raw but talented, but his 10/13, 153-yard, two-touchdown passing performance showed some solid poise for his first NFL outing. He wasn’t prime Peyton Manning back there — I’ll have to re-watch his performance, but Allar seemed a tick late on some reads and had mild happy feet in the pocket. But of course there will be some nitpicks this early in his career, especially after Mike McCarthy spent much of the spring reworking how the former Nittany Lion plays the game in the first place.
Upside is why the Steelers drafted Allar, and that was abundantly clear Thursday night. Allar didn’t have any truly “wow” throws, but the ball leaps from his hand in a way it doesn’t with Howard and Rudolph, and the rookie’s rushing touchdown was a refreshing dose of size and mobility from the pocket.
Keep in mind that Skylar Thompson also lit up the preseason for the Steelers last year. Don’t read too much into anything. But backup quarterbacks were always going to be the focus for the franchise-passer-needy Steelers this month, and they couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start.
3. Worried about the offensive line? Wait a few weeks
The Steelers’ offensive line has started to pick up some national media hype over the offseason as one of the league’s most exciting young groups, and for good reason: Zach Frazier and Troy Fautanu look like rising stars. Mason McCormick has developed into a solid starter. There’s a lot of depth, and the team added two more premium draft picks to the group this year.
All that excitement, just for the starting five to falter against a Micah Parsons-less Green Bay front to open the preseason, allowing two fairly quick and ugly sacks on starter Mason Rudolph, and failing to get much push in the run game. Right tackle Dylan Cook struggled mightily in pass protection, while Fautanu looked to still be getting used to left tackle, committing two penalties.
It certainly wasn’t encouraging, but keep in mind that every Steelers starter on the offensive line, minus Frazier at center, is playing on the opposite side of where they took most of their starting snaps last season. Combine that with a new offense, new coaching, new teammates blocking next to them, and a new practice philosophy that’s less physical than what Mike Tomlin brought to the table in years past, and you’re looking at some expected growing pains as the unit builds chemistry.
Offensive line success is a complicated formula. I’m not guaranteeing it’ll all work out, or vice versa, in 2026. But it will certainly take some time. Thursday’s showing was disappointing, but there’s little reason to panic this early in the process.
4. The roster hierarchy is revealed
I don’t put much stock into depth charts this time of year, but how coaches order the playing time of the team during the preseason does tend to lend some insight to the hierarchy of the roster.
For instance, it was notable to see Travis Homer play with the “ones” at running back as the next man up behind Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle, who both got the night off. Homer has a solid roster chance thanks to his special teams skill set and capability as a dump-off target, and his playing time Thursday seemed to reflect that.
A bit more surprising was Lew Nichols being the next runner up, building on what’s reportedly been a strong camp. The reigning Isaac Redman Award winner was the Steelers’ most effective back against Green Bay, running hard for 36 yards and a touchdown with a 3.6-yard average.
Nichols could also have a chance at the 53-man roster, considering he seems to have leapfrogged former third-round pick Kaleb Johnson on the depth chart. The latter entered the game after both Homer and Nichols, but only saw two carries, seven less than recent seventh-rounder Eli Heidenreich.
Compare that to another recent high draft pick on offense who played late in the preseason, left tackle Broderick Jones. While the team clearly isn’t the highest on Jones at this point in his career, he still received plenty of snaps to prove himself on Thursday, which especially made sense considering he’s coming off a season-ending neck injury. Johnson hardly received any chances to make a case for himself — it’s hard to be optimistic about his Steelers future at this point, although his career is still very young,
Moving to defense, it was less surprising but still worth noting that Rashawn Jenkins and Robert Spears-Jennings operated as the top safeties behind DeShon Elliott and Jaquan Brisker. Depth in the safety room was a mystery entering the summer, but the hierarchy is becoming more clear.
More unexpected was Doneiko Slaughter — who recorded both a pass defensed and a tackle for loss — starting in the nickel with both Jalen Ramsey and Brandin Echols out with injury. Depending on how serious each situation is, keep an eye on Slaughter this summer, or other names the Steelers could put in the slot.
Veteran defensive lineman Dean Lowry also saw some early snaps. His roster odds might be better than we think on a crowded bottom half of the depth chart. I also noticed reserve guard Doug Nester playing with the “twos” on offense. He’s another capable name that’s flown under the radar this summer.
5. Odds and ends
- The Asante Samuel Jr. hype train is real. He followed up glowing camp reviews with an excellent coverage performance against the Packers. Maybe his success shouldn’t be as surprising considering he was a starting-capable player pre-injury. Either way, it’s good to have him as insurance while uncertainty remains regarding Joey Porter Jr.‘s availability.
- Germie Bernard had a strong four-catch, 51-yard performance, highlighted by a catch-and-run where he evaded two defenders and showed off the yards-after-catch ability that stood out in college. A good sign for the rookie, especially considering his somewhat quiet summer up to this point.
- Welcome to the 53-man roster, Robert Tonyan. OK, maybe not just yet, but his four catches for 61 yards made him one of the team’s top receiving targets Thursday, and don’t discount his past experience with Aaron Rodgers. If the Steelers keep a non-Riley Nowakowski TE3, Tonyan is the guy.
- Speaking of Nowakowski, it was nice to see him get some fullback reps, and redeem himself with a late touchdown grab after he dropped his first opportunity at a score. Also a solid reminder: don’t judge young players off their first (good or bad) preseason impressions. There’s still a lot of football to be played, and not everyone will look NFL-ready from their first snap.
- Jamin Davis and Kyler Baugh both made some plays on the Steelers’ defensive front against the Packers, but the two names that stood out the most to me were Anthony Goodlow and rookie Gabriel Rubio. The former had just one tackle but was one of the team’s top interior pass rushers, while the latter had six total tackles and clogged running lanes all game. Rubio might be closer to a roster spot than many realize.
- Rookie fourth-rounder Kaden Wetjen had a quiet debut as a returner (to be fair, he didn’t have much to work with), but his 74-yard catch and run on Allar’s first pass was a strong exhibit of how the specialist’s short-area quickness and open-field vision could contribute on offense. A late touchdown catch didn’t hurt, either.
- Devan Boykin was one of my favorite Steelers undrafted free agents this year. The safety/corner hybrid looked good coming downhill with a tackle for loss, and he nearly recorded an interception with a full-extension pass deflection later in the game. He’s a name to watch for the practice squad, and I’d like to see him get more nickel reps this preseason.
- I wouldn’t read too much into Mike McCarthy’s fourth-down decision-making in the preseason. To my earlier point, I think it has more to do with putting players in situations than winning percentage during the preseason.
- What we can read into more are some of the schematic details from Thursday night. New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham looks as-advertised when it comes to sim pressures and confusing fronts, while the McCarthy passing offense seems to incorporate more real drop backs, middle of the field throws, and play action. We’ll see what it looks like when Aaron Rodgers makes his first start this year.
- You can always count on Max Hurleman and Lew Nichols to make some plays in the preseason.
- While some were worse than others, 11 penalties for 134 yards is unacceptable, even in the preseason. That sloppiness should be priority No. 1 to clean up for the Steelers.
The Steelers have a week until their next preseason matchup: hosting the New York Jets on Friday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. EST.
What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Packers? Agree/disagree with the ones above? Join the Behind the Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!
