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. 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 Troy Fautanu, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Zach Frazier.
T Troy Fautanu: The Steelers selected Fautanu in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Washington with the idea of him quickly becoming a starter at right tackle. However, an early-season knee injury ended Fautanu’s rookie season just as it was getting started.
Fautanu played all of 55 snaps in 2024 with all of those coming in the team’s Week 2 contest, a game he started at right tackle. Pro Football Focus gave Fautanu an overall grade of 64.4 for the limited snaps he played as a rookie. His pass-blocking grade was slightly better than his run-blocking grade in that lone contest.
The Steelers shut Fautanu down for the remainder of the season after that Week 2 game due to him needing surgery to repair ligament damage to a dislocated kneecap.
While there was some hope that Fautanu might ultimately return late in the season, the team never opened his practice window.
Outlook: With his knee injury now presumably behind him, Fautanu is expected to be the team’s starting right tackle in 2025. That designation should mean that the team’s 2023 first-round selection, Broderick Jones, will finally flip over to left tackle full time.
While Fautanu mainly played left tackle at Washington, switching to right tackle doesn’t seem to be much of a concern for him and especially based on the limited playing time he received as a rookie both during the regular season and the preseason.
While there should be a lot of optimism when it comes to Fautanu in 2025, he still has yet to play a full NFL game. The Steelers certainly need to see a big jump from their entire offensive line in 2025 and Fautanu will hopefully play a big part in that happening. Fautanu, along with Jones, must do a fantastic job when it comes to protecting the edges for new QB Aaron Rodgers, who can’t continue taking big hits at his age.
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: While he earned another Pro Bowl selection in 2024, Fitzpatrick didn’t have a great season overall. At the very least, it wasn’t a notable one for the veteran safety and mainly due to a lack of splash plays made by him once again.
In total, Fitzpatrick registered 96 regular-season tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, four passes defensed, and one forced fumble in 2024. He has totaled just two takeaways over the course of the last two seasons.
According to Pro Football Focus, Fitzpatrick missed nine tackles in 2024, and he allowed 31 receptions on 41 targets for 370 yards and five touchdowns. Fitzpatrick’s best play during the 2024 season seemed to come in the team’s first six games.
Fitzpatrick was able to play in every game in 2024, and that includes the team’s one playoff contest, and that came on the heels of him missing seven contests during the 2023 season due to injuries. All told, Fitzpatrick logged 1,083 defensive snaps during the 2024 regular season and 77 more on special teams.
Outlook: In 2025, Fitzpatrick will look to flip the narrative that he can no longer be an impactful NFL free safety and especially when it comes to him making splash plays. At the very least, Fitzpatrick needs to have more consistent play throughout the 2025 season, especially against the pass.
Last season, Fitzpatrick had to break in a new safety counterpart in DeShon Elliott, who wound up being one of the team’s brighter defensive pieces in his first year in Pittsburgh. With that first year of getting to know each other now behind both Fitzpatrick and Elliott, the two will be expected to perform like one of the best safety tandems in the NFL in 2025.
Fitzpatrick won’t turn 29 until midway through the 2025 season so he should have several quality seasons left in him. Even so, how he plays in 2025 will ultimately decide if the Steelers try to sign him to another lucrative contract extension next offseason, and perhaps even one that results in him being the highest-paid safety in the NFL once again. He’ll need to earn that distinct honor, however, by having an All-Pro 2025 season and one that includes him taking the football away from opposing offenses more than just a few times.
In closing, the Steelers need Fitzpatrick to be as close, if not better than, the 2022 version of himself. Should he have a repeat of his 2023 or 2024 seasons, Fitzpatrick’s future in Pittsburgh beyond the 2025 season will really be up for question come February.
C Zach Frazier: After being selected by the Steelers in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of West Virginia, Frazier certainly did not disappoint. In total, Frazier logged 976 offensive regular-season snaps during his 2024 rookie season as part of him starting and playing in 15 contests. He did, however, miss two regular-season games due to an ankle injury in 2024. He started and played every snap in the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season to boot.
Pro Football Focus ranked Frazier as their fourth-best NFL center in 2024 when it comes to its overall grade. PFF scored him as allowing 12 total pressures during the regular season with just one sack. He was flagged just four times in 2024 with two of those penalties being ineligibly downfield on a passing play. Only once was he flagged for holding.
Overall, it was an astounding rookie season for Frazier, who was the team’s starting center right from the beginning. His play in the team’s lone playoff game was quite excellent.
Outlook: Moving into his second NFL season, Frazier still has room to become an even better center, and potentially even a Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection at that. He’ll have a new quarterback to get used to in veteran Aaron Rodgers, but that shouldn’t be a huge obstacle for him to overcome.
At this point, Frazier just needs to fine-tune his game when it comes to both his run and pass blocking. There’s no reason to think that he won’t be one of the highest graded centers in the NFL on a week-to-week basis in 2025. Obviously, it would be great to see Frazier play every game in 2025 as well.
The Steelers have invested a lot in recent years in their offensive line in draft picks and as of right now, Frazier seems to be a huge hit and potentially a player who will man the middle of the team’s offensive line for years to come. He should be an exciting Steelers player to watch in his second NFL season.
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
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Chris Boswell, Nick Broeker, Carson Bruener
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Sebastian Castro, Dylan Cook, Domenique Davis
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandin Echols, Daniel Ekuale, DeShon Elliott
