Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers may have rested the majority of their starters on both sides of the ball, but their depth shined bright in Jacksonville, as they were able to come away victorious to open the 2025 NFL preseason. For the most part, the team ran a clean operation by taking care of the football, not committing many penalties, and most importantly, avoiding any major injuries on the night. As is tradition here at Steelers Now, we’ll take a look at the dudes and duds from the contest.
With the top three cornerbacks all resting on the night, Echols got plenty of reps early in the first half and was arguably the best player for either team. Whether it was coming downhill to make, approaching perimeter blocks with physicality, or staying sticky in coverage, he looked the part. His best play came as the cloud corner in cover-2, perfectly midpointing the smash concept and nearly coming away with an interception. Not many teams have four competent corners, but it’s a luxury the Steelers appear to have.
Preseason gives us our first glimpse of what rookies look like in the pros, and as a collective, the first-year pass rushers were very quiet. Throughout the first half, the pocket was far too clean due to the lack of wins up front. Harmon’s best rep of the night came on the opening drive of the second half, in which he was able to create a little bit of push up the middle, which helped force an interception (one that was ultimately wiped away due to penalty). Sawyer played to the whistle but was mostly ineffective off the edge. I thought Black would have gotten a tad more snaps early in the contest.
Sure, it’s only preseason. But slow starts have plagued the Steelers for years, and it was good to see Coach Tomlin’s troops come out firing in attack mode. Mason Rudolph was sharp, completing his first seven passes. We saw some Arthur Smith staples off play-action, getting Roman Wilson involved on a crossing route on the first play of the game. Once they got into the red zone, Darnell Washington traveled uncovered up the seam for an easy six points. Most notably, the offensive tackles both held their own on an island on this particular rep going up against Jacksonville’s starting edge duo of Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker.
It was a rough night offensively for Heyward, with him struggling mightily as a blocker. In the first half, he was blown backwards while also being called for holding. In the second half, the Steelers ran a “zorro” toss with him as the motion man, and he was blasted backwards again. Over the past couple years, it’s become evident that he’s a player without a real position due to his size and skill set. There’s value in his special teams acumen, but it’s worth...
