LATROBE, Pa. – The Steelers open their preseason with a 7 p.m. game on Saturday, Aug. 9 against the Jaguars in Jacksonville, which means the release of the first depth chart of the 2025 season.
And while always highly anticipated, the Steelers first depth chart of the 2025 season should surprise no one.
Reflective of today's NFL, the depth chart lists 12 players as "starters" on both offense and defense in a nod to the variety of personnel packages that have become so prevalent across the league.
On offense, the starting offensive line is the unit that's been on display recently at training camp – Broderick Jones, Isaac Seumalo, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, and Troy Fautanu. The are two tight ends listed as starters – and three players attached to those spots – because one of those is assigned to "Pat Freiermuth-or-Jonnu Smith." Darnell Washington is at the other spot.
A fullback is listed (Connor Heyward); the running back is Jaylen Warren: and the two wide receivers tabbed as starters are DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin III. Oh, and the quarterbacks are listed exactly in the order in which they have appeared in practices at Saint Vincent College – Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and Skylar Thompson.
Sticking with the offense, there are no surprises with the way the backups along the offensive line are listed – from left to right – Calvin Anderson, Spencer Anderson, Ryan McCollum, Max Scharping, and Dylan Cook, and the backups at running back and wide receiver generally are arranged by experience and/or draft order. As an example, Kenneth Gainwell is the No. 2 running back and Kaleb Johnson is No. 3, but how they are inserted into games will have more to do with a particular personnel package than a depth chart.
At fullback, the backup there to Heyward is rookie DJ Thomas-Jones, who often works with the tight ends during practices, and a guy not listed there at all is Mark Robinson, a fourth-year ILB who took a couple of snaps at fullback during a goal-line period on Sunday.
On defense, the depth chart reflects a traditional 3-4 alignment with the addition of a nickel back being a 12th player.
The three defensive linemen are Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton, and Derrick Harmon, who is the only rookie listed as a starter. The rest of the starting defense is as expected, with Payton Wilson ahead of Cole Holcomb at the ILB spot alongside Patrick Queen, with Jalen Ramsey listed as the nickel cornerback with Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay as the outside cornerbacks. DeShon Elliott and Juan Thornhill are the safeties.
As for the backups on defense, Yahya Black is listed as the No. 3 nose tackle, but that might have more to do at this stage of the process with the fact he's a rookie than performance during practices. Something else to note is that DeMarvin Leal is listed only at outside linebacker as an either-or backup with Jack Sawyer behind T.J. Watt.
When it comes to the specialists, Corliss Waitman and Cameron Johnston are listed as either/or at punter and holder, with Austin as the punt returner and Gainwell as the kickoff returner. Of course, Chris Boswell is the placekicker and Christian Kuntz in the long-snapper.
A final thing to remember when viewing this depth chart or any depth chart is that it doesn't take into consideration special teams beyond the specialists. And there is no doubt that before it's all over, roster spots will be won or lost based on contributions on special teams.
