Steelers Now
UNITY TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Steelers look like they have a pretty good secondary ahead of the 2025 season.
That should be the case, with the team trading for former All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey right before the start of the season, and adding him to Darius Slay, Joey Porter Jr. and DeShon Elliott, who all had strong seasons in 2024.
But just how good? That will play out over the course of the season, but if the early returns are any indication — look out.
It’s not just the guys at the top of the depth chart, either. Brandin Echols and Cory Trice have been in an intense battle for the No. 4 cornerback spot, and both have played very well throughout training camp.
When Trice and Porter were injured on Friday, Beanie Bishop stepped up to the first team and played well, and James Pierre found himself on the second squad, making an interception of Mason Rudolph in the end zone to secure victory for the defense in the two-minute drill.
By Derrick Bell
The backs-on-backers drill at Steelers training camp is the most electrifying ten minutes that you’ll ever witness during a practice setting. With the competitive juices overflowing, this is where trash talk reigns supreme and emotions run amok. This is a 1v1 setting where the defensive players own the natural advantage as the aggressor, so when a tight end starts to steal the show in pass protection, it’s worth getting excited about.
The first rep of the night came against T.J. Watt, where the highest-paid non-QB was able to get underneath his pads and generate some initial knockbacken route to the backfield. After that, the Georgia product was lights out. The coaching staff threw him challenge after challenge, and he kept standing tall until head coach Mike Tomlin ran out of challengers to throw his direction.
His matchups versus Jack Sawyer and DeMarvin Leal were utterly dominant, with him anchoring down and giving up no ground whatsoever. Alex Highsmith tried to hit him with his patented inside spin move; Washington remained balanced and was able to mirror him effortlessly, latch on, and drive him backwards on contact. Advantage to the dancing bear wearing #80.
It was hardly a surprise to his teammates, with one of them barking out “not bad for an offensive tackle” in his direction after his grand finale. His response? “Better pay me like one.” While a position switch isn’t in the cards, the Steelers brain trust should feel pretty giddy about having a physical specimen this rare because having a tight end this proficient in pass blocking is very rare. Even if the box score production isn’t gaudy, Washington’s blocking acumen is going to make him a very rich man so long as he stays healthy.
Arguably the player with the most to prove in this drill was rookie tailback Kaleb Johnson, who struggled during his first exposure to this setting earlier this week. That’s...
