The conclusion of the NFL Draft brings the bulk of the NFL’s offseason player acquisition period to a close. There are a handful of notable veterans still looking for homes, and trades are still a viable course of action for interested parties, but a majority of the team-building is done this offseason. The Pittsburgh Steelers sank their teeth into building out the meaty insides of its team, but they still have a few holes that need to be patched up.
Quarterback
The Steelers are currently in a toxic situationship with Aaron Rodgers. They are seemingly operating under the assumption Rodgers will be their starting quarterback in training camp, but nothing is official yet. Team owner and president Art Rooney II also signaled his expectations that the future Hall of Famer would stop teasing and commit to a short-term deal shortly.
"We're still kind of getting the same signals that we've been getting recently," Rooney II told Steelers Nation Radio, the team's flagship program during Day 2 of the NFL Draft. "He does want to come here, so I do think we may get word soon."
A day later, the Steelers used their seventh-round pick on Ohio State quarterback Will Howard. That’s hardly a contingency plan, though. Howard is in Stetson Bennett’s wing of national champs turned Day 3 picks. He’s mobile, but not especially agile, and checks in at 6-foot-4 and 236 pounds.
Howard looks like a tight end, and he's a great story, but he won't be their next franchise quarterback or even the next Kenny Pickett.
Howard was barely the answer for Ohio State after transferring from Kansas State. for his senior campaign Without a quarterback, the Steelers are going to trot out a zombie offense that will rot their season from the inside out. They signed DK Metcalf and handed him a hefty sum in an extension. They’d be silly to waste a year of his prime on Mason Rudolph.
Cornerback
Jahdae Barron flew off the draft board one pick before the Steelers selected made their decision tree much easier. However, Darius Slay is 34-years-old. Pittsburgh finally got around to addressing the position in the seventh round.
Central Michigan cornerback Donte Kent left after the school record for career pass breakups. Joey Porter Jr. is the only sure thing in the Steelers' secondary. Slay is a stop-gap option who looked diminished last season. There’s no telling when the cliff comes, but cornerbacks can fall off quickly. Behind Slay, there isn’t much of a backstop. Kent is a developmental prospect, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be on the roster by the end of training camp. For a defense that relied so heavily on creating turnovers, having healthy playmakers on the perimeter of their defense is imperative to their success in 2025. That’s especially true if they take a step back offensively, running a Headless Horseman offense.
Defensive Line
Watching their season get bashed in by the Baltimore Ravens violently busting through their line for 299 yards on the ground was traumatizing for Mike Tomlin. He later admitted that he knew he'd b revamping the defensive line as soon as he reached the locker room. First-round pick Derrick Harmon should address their shortcomings at defensive tackle. However, they still lack depth.
Cameron Heyward and Keeanu Benton will lead the charge in the defensive trenches. Heyward is coming off of an All-Pro campaign in which he rang up 60 pressures, eight sacks and played 70 percent of the defensive snaps. Benton occupied the space at nose tackle, but his impact was merely eating up blocks. The Steelers also drafted defensive linemen Jack Sawyer and Yayha Black, but both will function as backups.
Sawyer is a run-stuffing edge, who fell in the draft because of his undesirable measurements. Harmon is better suited for aligning inside the offensive tackle’s shoulder as a four-technique, but has explosive potential as Hayward’s understudy. The Steelers know what they’re getting in Heyward and Benton, but much of their defensive line will be a mystery this offseason.