If you want to start with something tangible, just look at the names on this list:
QB Aaron Rodgers, QB Mason Rudolph, S Jaquan Brisker, WR DK Metcalf, DB Jalen Ramsey, ILB Patrick Queen, WR Michael Pittman Jr., RB Rico Dowdle, CB Asante Samuel Jr., CB Joey Porter Jr., SS DeShon Elliott, RB Jaylen Warren, CB Jamel Dean, ILB Payton Wilson, OLB Nick Herbig, C Zach Frazier, OLB Alex Highsmith, G Mason McCormick, G Spencer Anderson, LT Troy Fautanu, TE Darnell Washington, TE Robert Tonyan, TE Pat Freiermuth, OLB T.J. Watt, DT Keeanu Benton, DT Cam Heyward, and DT Derrick Harmon.
That's the core of the 2026 Steelers, and when the scoreboard clock reads 0:00 at the conclusion of the regular season finale in Baltimore, those will be the guys who will have had the biggest impact on the team's record and whether that record will be good enough to qualify for the playoffs.
None of the guys listed played vs. the Bills, which means none of them had any chance to sustain an injury in a meaningless game 17 days before things get real against Atlanta at Acrisure Stadium. That's a victory, and not an insignificant one in any preseason.
When these preseason games were about to begin, Coach Mike McCarthy said that two of the things he wanted to happen were to get out of them healthy while having a lot of playing time for the young guys in the process.
That there were 27 names on that list checks one box, and that many of the young guys played a lot of football over the previous 14 days takes care of the other.
Specifically against the Bills, a couple of the young guys who provided some viewing pleasure for lovers of offense were RBs Lew Nichols and Eli Heidenreich. Nichols rushed for 40 yards and caught a pass for 11 more to account for 53 of the 98 total net yards the Steelers managed in the first half of a game in which they built a 14-10 lead, and Heidenreich rushed for 35 yards in 9 carries and scored a 9-yard TD.
Also of interest was another full half of football for each of the young QBs, with McCarthy again having Will Howard start and going to Drew Allar after halftime.
"Our young guys got to play a ton of ball tonight, and that excites me," said McCarthy. "I got to see personalities. I got to see guys step up."
Most of that will go into the overall evaluations that will be the basis of the moves the Steelers will make over the next 72 hours when they take their 90 and turn it into 53 and then add 17 more.
It's true what they say about a chain being only as strong as its weakest link, and what the Steelers will be focusing on over the next 72 hours is making sure to have those bottom of the depth chart chain links as strong as possible. That's necessary and valuable work, because an NFL season is a war of attrition.
But I believe there are a few young guys who can be more than depth pieces. More like impact players. And this season, maybe as soon as Sept. 13.
Listed alphabetically: Germie Bernard, Max Iheanachor, Kaden Wetjen.
Early in the offseason, the Steelers had acquired Michael Pittman Jr. as a veteran complement to DK Metcalf, and then followed up by using their No. 2 pick (47th overall) on Germie Bernard, because when it comes to assembling a successful NFL offense these days 2 WRs is not enough. What Bernard has flashed starting back in Latrobe is a willingness to work the middle of the field and then the ability to break tackles once he gets the ball in his hands.
He flashed some of that when he caught 4 passes for 51 yards (with a long of 25) in the opener vs. Green Bay, and then he bettered that by getting into the end zone vs. the Bills thanks to a broken tackle in the flat that became a 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Bernard could become a nice option for QB Aaron Rodgers, another weapon in an arsenal that also includes TEs Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington , RBs Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle, and of course Metcalf and Pittman.
What's necessary to take all of those options and set them up to become dangerous weapons is a butt-kicking offensive line. Football remains a game of blocking and tackling, and successful teams ultimately are the ones that can line up and move opposing players from point-A to point-B against their will. That's right up Max Iheanachor's alley.
Iheanachor had been making rapid gains at training camp until he sustained some sort of upper body injury that stalled the momentum of a couple of impressive days of practice. Thursday night in Buffalo was his first game action of the preseason, and there were a couple of "welcome to the NFL" moments for him. Those happen to everybody, but Iheanachor kept playing and showed himself to be a quick study, or as Max Starks had said from the press box at Chuck Noll Field, "He never makes the same mistake twice."
On Eli Heidenreich's 9-yard touchdown run in the third quarter Thursday night, Iheanachor threw a key block that opened the initial crease and from there was consistently mobile, agile, and hostile the rest of the game.
The Steelers No. 1 offensive line looks good starting with center Zach Frazier and moving to his left, but it's the right side that seems to need some work. Getting a first-round talent like Iheanachor ready to play at RT and helping him occasionally with scheme or a partner like Darnell Washington could get the offensive front closer to being the irresistible force the Steelers have envisioned since the reconstruction project began with the 2023 NFL Draft.
Sustaining drives and controlling the line of scrimmage are great, but sometimes you just need some great field position to score an easy touchdown, or even better score an easy touchdown without the offense having to take the field. Takeaways are one way to accomplish that, but special teams provide more regular, predictable opportunities.
Teams can count on 25-30 punt returns over the course of a season, and another 60-65 kickoff returns. Having a guy who's a weapon returning those kicks, who's capable of jumpstarting the offense with good/great field position and occasionally putting the points on the scoreboard himself, well, he's worth having. At the price of a fourth-round draft choice, the Steelers might have found one of those in Kaden Wetjen.
Now, there's a difference between aggressive and reckless in that business, and Wetjen still has to pass that class, but you gotta admit that was a sweet 45-yard punt return for a touchdown in Buffalo that gave the Steelers a 27-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The preseason is over, and the roster and practice squad soon will be put together. Starting next Tuesday, the Steelers will turn their focus preparing for and then playing a particular opponent.
Nurturing Bernard and integrating him into the offense; getting Iheanachor ready to play and then siccing him on opposing defenses; and creating situations for Wetjen to utilize his escapability could make this regular season a very interesting one.
