The Pittsburgh Steelers are fully into offseason mode, and so are we here at Steelers Depot. With the NFL’s conference championship games set and a national champion crowned Monday night in college football, we press on with the Ranking The Steelers’ Starters series, this being the post-season edition of the rankings.
Though the season ended in frustrating fashion with five straight losses, including an embarrassing loss in the playoffs to the AFC North-rival Baltimore Ravens, I wanted to take a look at how my preseason starters rankings looked compared to the season that was just completed.
So, that’s what we’re doing today, taking a look at No. 21-19 after reviewing No. 24-22 last week.
As a reminder, here’s the list from No. 24-1 ahead of training camp.
No. 24 — Dan Moore Jr., LT
No. 23 — Darnell Washington, TE
No. 22 — Van Jefferson, WR
No. 21 — Zach Frazier, C
No. 20 — Larry Ogunjobi, DE
No. 19 — Cameron Johnston, P
No. 18 — Donte Jackson, CB
No. 17 — Elandon Roberts, ILB
No. 16 — Broderick Jones, RT
No. 15 — Keeanu Benton, NT
No. 14 — James Daniels, RG
No. 13 — DeShon Elliott, S
No. 12 — Najee Harris, RB
No. 11 — Russell Wilson, QB
No. 10 — Isaac Seumalo, LG
No. 9 — Pat Freiermuth, TE
No. 8 — George Pickens, WR
No. 7 — Joey Porter Jr., CB
No. 6 — Cameron Heyward, DE
No. 5 — Chris Boswell, K
No. 4 — Patrick Queen, LB
No. 3 — Alex Highsmith, OLB
No. 2 — Minkah Fitzpatrick, S
No. 1 — T.J. Watt, OLB
And here is how the post-season Ranking The Steelers’ Starters series looks so far:
No. 24 — Van Jefferson, WR
No. 23 — Dan Moore Jr., LT
No. 22 — Corliss Waitman, P
Again, a reminder: Mason McCormick is in at RG for the injured James Daniels. I won’t have names like Justin Fields, Nick Herbig or Payton Wilson ranked here, because they didn’t play true starter snaps.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the postseason Ranking the Steelers’ Starters, looking at No. 21-19 today.
No. 21 — BRODERICK JONES, RT
Things started off horribly in Year 2 for Broderick Jones, who suffered an elbow injury early in training camp and looked quite dreadful in the preseason and early in the regular season. At one point, he lost the right tackle job to rookie Troy Fautanu, but once Fautanu went down for the season, the Steelers put Jones back into the lineup.
To his credit, he got better in the second half of the season. Still, he allowed the second-most sacks in the NFL on the season with 12, behind only Steelers LT Dan Moore Jr. Jones allowed just three sacks in the second half of the season, but he still struggled in pass protection.
From Week 10 on, Jones allowed 22 of his 43 pressures on the season. In the playoff loss to the Ravens, Jones allowed another two pressures and a sack. He took strides as a run blocker and played with an edge, often mixing it up with opponents and creating a chippy environment, but there are real concerns about Jones in pass protection moving forward, especially as he appears set to move back to left tackle in 2025.
No. 20 — LARRY OGUNJOBI, DE
A great guy off the field, a deserving Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination for the Steelers. But on the field, Larry Ogunjobi has largely been a disappointment. It was more of the same during the 2024 season, too.
In 15 games this season, Ogunjobi had just 1.5 sacks, five tackles for loss and 14 total pressures. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Ogunjobi was known as that disruptive interior defensive lineman, one who could create havoc in the backfield. Heck, in 2021 with the Bengals he had 7.0 sacks. Since signing with Pittsburgh, Ogunjobi has just 6.0 sacks across three seasons.
To his credit, he’s been available, played through some injuries and is praised for doing his job and playing his role well. But he leaves quite a bit desired on the field from a production standpoint, especially in a defensive front where he sees a lot of one-on-ones due to the presence of Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
No. 19 — DARNELL WASHINGTON, TE
In offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s offense, which is well-known to be TE-friendly, the expectation was that second-year TE Darnell Washington would have a larger role, especially in the passing game. That played out this season for the Georgia product.
Washington played 602 snaps offensively in 2024, though it was just an increase of 93 snaps from his rookie season. However, Washington received more work in the passing game, seeing 25 targets on the season, an increase from the 10 he had as a rookie.
On the year, Washington hauled in 19 of those targets for 200 yards and touchdown. That touchdown came in Week 2 in Denver, Washington winning a one-on-one back-shoulder fade route for the score and then saluting his United States Marine Corps brother in a tribute.
The second-year product also improved as a run blocker in 2024, playing a key part in the Steelers’ move toward a physical, run-first offense that had some success at times.
