Behind the Steel Curtain
The 10 most important players for Pittsburgh in 2025
It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season, making it eight seasons and counting since they last advanced in the postseason. In order for them to finally get that monkey off their backs, they will need high-level play all over the roster.
Now, it’s important to note this isn’t the best players, though a lot of the Steelers’ best players will appear on the list, but players that Pittsburgh needs to play well in order to have the best chance at success. With that said, let’s get into it.
He’s the only true threat at receiver that will scare opposing defenses. If he shines, the offense has a higher ceiling, and they’re paying him a ton of money to be that guy.
We can throw Jaylen Warren in here, as well, but I do believe Johnson will get the majority of carries. The Steelers’ offense will revolve around the run game and rely on it to set up those play-action deep shots to DK Metcalf. If they can’t run the ball, the offense doesn’t work.
Hot take, but I think this could be Highsmith’s last year in Pittsburgh - especially if he has another year where he is just fine instead of a real impact player. The Steelers need a true difference-maker opposite T.J. Watt, and that could end up being Nick Herbig more so than Highsmith. He needs to stay healthy and he needs to have a big year.
The Steelers once again went the veteran route at CB2, but Slay can still play and is the best signing they’ve had at that specific spot of this long-running group of Ahkello Witherspoon, Patrick Peterson, Donte Jackson etc. It will be important that he can take some of the pressure, not just off Joey Porter Jr, but off the next player on the list as well.
Splash plays are the ultimate momentum swinger, and Minkah Fitzpatrick used to be the best splash play defender in the NFL. Over the last two seasons, he’s done almost none of that. Safety play is one of those things that doesn’t show up in a box score, so I don’t want this to sound like I’m saying Fitzpatrick has played awful - he hasn’t. That said, the takeaways have taken a noticeable nosedive, and that’s hurt the way fans look at him, and has hurt the defense as a whole. The Steelers now have a better collection of players in the secondary - let Fitzpatrick get back to playing centerfield and picking off passes.
This one is somewhat vague because we don’t know who the Steelers’ WR2 will be, but they need a lot of guys to step up. Roman Wilson was a third-round pick - go show...
