Steelers Now
UNITY TWP, Pa. – The Pittsburgh Steelers made a slew of offseason moves. Head coach Mike Tomlin even admitted that it’s new territory for the club with the amount of roster turnover.
Pittsburgh turned plenty of heads with trading for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith earlier this month, lengthening a string of team-altering moves since its sizable 28-14 defeat against Lamar Jackson’s Ravens. The Steelers also traded for standout receiver DK Metcalf, shipped off the unpredictable George Pickens and signed future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Steelers All-Pro defensive tackle Cam Heyward channeled Lee Flowers and said he doesn’t want the Steelers to be paper champions.
“We’re not trying to be paper champs, we’re trying to be champs,” Heyward said at the Steelers first day of training camp at St. Vincent College. “You don’t win the Super Bowl now, but you learn how to be a better team and you learn how to be better situationally.”
All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt said he wants to get back to Steelers football after the Baltimore Ravens ran up and down the field on the defense in the embarrassing Wild Card loss last January. Heyward echoed that statement. The defense needs to be more consistent.
“To be the No. 1 defense, it can’t just be from Week 1 through Week 7. It’s got to be a continued grind and we’ve got to be, at the end of the season, playing our best football,” Heyward said.
Despite the major turnover, the Steelers are favored in only six of their 17 games in 2025. The oddsmakers are apparently not too impressed with the additions of Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith.
Dan Graziano of ESPN is also not buying the new-look Steelers. He compared the Steelers to the Philadelphia Eagles’ Dream Team in 2011. Despite the hype, things didn’t work out for the Eagles that season, as they went 8-8 and missed the playoffs.
“The better parallel would be Philadelphia in Andy Reid’s last year, when they went out and got all sort of stars… the dream team. Now, we were sitting there in the offseason thinking their roster was better. If the Steelers are going all-in, I just don’t know how much they’ve improved their team this offseason,” Graziano said on First Take.
While the Steelers’ moves look impressive on paper. The overall age of the roster is a concern.
The Steelers were one of the oldest teams in the NFL in the 2024 season, averaging 27.2 years old, according to a snap-weighted formula by Bill Barnwell of ESPN. All they’ve done in the 2025 offseason is get older.
When the Steelers traded for Ramsey and Smith earlier this month, they added two strong household names. They also added to their aging star roster.
Ramsey and Smith are both 30 – two of the 14 over-30-year-old players on the team. Not too long ago, Rodgers joined the Steelers at the age of 41. Additionally, they added...
