The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which will get underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of that, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes an outlook for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.
The next three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2025 training camp are Chris Boswell, Nick Broeker, and Carson Bruener.
K Chris Boswell: The Steelers’ kicker since 2015, Boswell had a fantastic 2024 season. He made 41 of his 44 total field goal attempts in 2024 and all 35 of his extra-point tries. His 41 field goals made led the NFL in 2024 and that was a career single-season high for him to boot.
Boswell made 13 of the 15 fields that attempted from 50-plus yards in 2024 and that was also a single-season career high for him as well. Boswell registered 90 kickoffs during the 2024 regular season for a 64-yard average. Only 49 of those kickoffs resulted in touchbacks.
Not surprisingly, Boswell was named a First-Team All-Pro in 2024 and also voted to the Pro Bowl for just the second time in his career.
Outlook: As long as he remains healthy throughout summer, Boswell should once again be the Steelers kicker. That’s not hard to predict, especially with 2024 being one of his best NFL seasons to date. Hopefully the Steelers will ask Boswell to kick more extra points in 2025 and fewer field goals. He still has a strong leg and there is no reason to think he won’t be dependable more times than not when asked to attempt field goals from more than 45 yards out.
Perhaps the biggest summer question when it comes to Boswell is whether the team will give him more 2025 cash before the start of the regular season. With Boswell currently under contract for two more seasons, it’s doubtful that the Steelers will sign him to an extension. Even so, they could move some cash forward from 2026, in addition to giving him a small cash raise this season, so that he can claim that he is the highest paid kicker in the NFL when it comes to his 2025 cash total.
G Nick Broeker: The Steelers signed Broeker to their offseason roster in May, not too long after the Houston Texans had waived him. A former seventh-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2023 out of Mississippi, Broeker has appeared in 12 NFL games, all with the Texans and across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. All of those nine offensive snaps came at right guard.
Broeker played quite a bit at left tackle during his college career. His final college season, however, included him mainly playing at left guard. Broeker weighed in at 6043, 305 pounds with 32.5-inch arms at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. He ran a 5.27 40-yard dash with a 7.75 three-cone. In our draft profile on Broeker his play strength and run-blocking ability were noted as positives along with good bloodlines and experience against SEC competition.
Outlook: Once training camp gets underway, Broeker will really have his work cut out when it comes to him ultimately making the active 53-man roster. He figures to be a second or third-team guard option at the start of camp and more than likely on the right side of the line.
While Broeker has seen game action in the NFL over the course of the last two seasons, there hasn’t been much of it to look at on tape. He should be considered a fringe-roster player when it comes to his skillset and he’ll more than likely be competing this summer to hang around as practice squad player.
If Broeker remains in Pittsburgh come Week 1, it will more than likely be with him as one of 17 members on the team’s initial practice squad.
ILB Carson Bruener The Steelers selected Bruener in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Washington. In four college seasons, Bruener registered 305 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and five interceptions.
Bruener, the son of former Steelers TE Mark Bruener, who is also a current college scout with the organization, was a team captain at Washington in 2024. He won Washington’s Defensive Most Valuable Player award at the team’s postseason banquet last season after being one of only two Big Ten players with 100-plus tackles and 3-plus interceptions in 2024. He played 52 games during his college career.
Outlook: As a seventh-round selection this year, Bruener is certainly not a lock to make the initial 53-man roster later this summer and especially with all of the experienced players ahead of him on the depth chart at his position. Even so, Bruener does figure to be an exceptionally good core special teams option for the Steelers once training camp gets underway and if that winds up being the case, he will certainly help his cause towards a roster spot.
The Steelers could do worse than Bruener as their fourth or fifth inside linebacker option for 2025. He certainly could wind up being an upgrade over the 2024 versions of Tyler Matakevich and Mark Robinson both as a defensive player and special teams player. Basically, don’t be surprised if Bruener makes the 53-man roster later this summer. He could wind up getting a helmet for every game in 2025 and be one of several players that logs way more than 250 special teams snaps as well.
Should Bruener ultimately not make the initial 53-man roster later this summer, he more than likely would be asked to remain in Pittsburgh as a practice squad player.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Calvin Anderson, Spencer Anderson, Calvin Austin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Keeanu Benton, Beanie Bishop Jr., Yahya Black
