Later this month and barring no trades, the Pittsburgh Steelers will have six new rookies on its roster. But in what’s sure to be a theme of the offseason, it’ll feel like they have a couple more.
The 2024 rookie class primarily fell into one of two camps. Impact starter or injured. Center Zach Frazier and inside linebacker Payton Wilson made immediate and notable contributions with the hopes of taking even bigger leaps as sophomores. Wilson, especially, as he looks to carve out an even larger role.
The others? Most of their rookie year was spent on the shelf.
1. First-round OT Troy Fautanu played one game, 55 snaps, before ending his rookie season with a dislocated knee cap.
2. Third-round WR Roman Wilson saw even less time, five offensive snaps, missing the rest of the year with ankle and hamstring issues.
3. Wire-to-wire, sixth-round DL Logan Lee spent his first year on injured reserve, admitting he was essentially stashed.
4. Fellow sixth-rounder S Ryan Watts suffered a serious neck injury late in the preseason, wiping his rookie year out.
That’s four of the Steelers’ seven 2024 selections who, combined, played 60 snaps. And all four spent either part or all of their first year on IR.
In that sense, it’s like half of a rookie class is coming in for 2025. They have the advantage of mental reps and an understanding of how the NFL works, giving him a leg up on the “true” rookies, but it’ll be a way the front office and coaching staff spins those injuries to the positive.
Playing and playing well are different things. There’s open questions on all of them. Fautanu is talented and flashed during training camp when healthy but remains largely untested (and struggled in his lone preseason half of action). Wilson hardly has any snaps to view, hurt during the Steelers’ first padded practice of camp and missing the rest of summer.
Lee was miscast as a training camp nose tackle and his play showed he was out of place. Watts made the conversion from college corner to NFL safety and flashed though he’s still an unknown. Even his health for 2025 is a question, the most serious injury with a timeline to return that’s unclear.
Factor in veterans like P Cameron Johnston and ILB Cole Holcomb and the Steelers will feel like good health will bring back a bulk of their roster. Of course, each year comes with its own injuries and good health only stays with a roster for so long.
The 2025 roster will feature the literal rookies. And the “sorta” rookies. All needing to step up and propel the Steelers forward.
