Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers got big plays from a trio of key young players, and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-14, but more importantly, also lost a pair of key players to injury.
Wide receiver Roman Wilson continued the hot start to his first preseason with the team, making two catches for 72 yards in the first half. He had a 42-yarder that set up a Steelers touchdown from Mason Rudolph to Brandon Johnson.
The Roman Wilson breakout game pic.twitter.com/szUgxPFrDh
— Austin Bechtold (@AustinRBechtold) August 17, 2025
Rudolph had been looking for Wilson earlier in the game, and had him open, but under threw the second-year Michigan product. Rudolph was intercepted by Zyon McCollum, and that set up Tampa’s first score, a pass from newly signed backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to running back Bucky Irving, who beat Payton Wilson in the end zone.
It looked like the Steelers’ first-team defense was going to get off the field with just a field goal, but cornerback D’Shawn Jamison was flagged for roughing the kicker, extending the possession.
Tampa scored again on the following drive, with Bridgewater hitting first-round pick Emeka Egbuka, who made a diving catch over Brandin Echols in the corner of the end zone.
Rudolph’s response was all for the first units of either side, though the Steelers had few of their starters dressed, with 22 players held out.
They didn’t get out of the early part of the game unscathed, though. Outside linebacker Nick Herbig, who head coach Mike Tomlin said might be held out of the game altogether, suffered a hamstring injury early in the game and left on the first defensive possession.
The second Tampa Bay scoring drive was set up by a long Tez Johnson punt return, which was only stopped from being a touchdown by a diving tackle by long snapper Christian Kuntz. Kuntz suffered a chest injury making the tackle and did not return to the game. Defensive tackle Logan Lee replaced him as the team’s long snapper, and did so without botching a snap, though they were not all delivered to their target clearly.
In addition to Roman Wilson’s big night, two other important Steelers young players had strong showings.
First-round pick Derrick Harmon did not find the stat sheet at all in the opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, despite playing a good bit of the game. This week, he made an impact, finishing with three tackles and a bull-rush sack of Buccaneers quarterback Kyle Trask.
.@Steelers' first-round pick Derrick Harmon gets to the QB 😤
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/3SpTEnfyJg
— NFL (@NFL) August 16, 2025
Third-round pick Kaleb Johnson also had a slow start to his pro career last week, when he had 20 yards on eight carries against the Jaguars. He showed much more burst and decisiveness against Tampa Bay, racking up 50 yards on 11 carries.
On the Steelers’ second touchdown drive, he ran six times for 34...
