Article

90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Isaac Seumalo, Ben Skowronek, Jacob Slade

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 13, 2025 at 11:00 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June, and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets 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 as the team can carry 91 players during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.

The next three players we preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2025 training camp are Isaac Seumalo, Ben Skowronek, and Jacob Slade.

G Isaac Seumalo: After playing 23 snaps at left guard during the 2024 preseason, a pectoral injury sustained late in training camp last year resulted in Seumalo missing the Steelers’ first four games of the regular season. Following his return from that injury, Seumalo played in every game at left guard for the Steelers the remainder of the season, and that included the team’s lone playoff game.

In total, Seumalo played 829 offensive snaps for the Steelers during the 2024 regular season and one other snap on special teams. He also played every offensive snap in the team’s playoff loss. From a Pro Football Focus grading standpoint, Seumalo received an overall grade of 66.3 in 2024. He was graded as a slightly better run blocker than a pass protector by PFF, who charged the starting left guard with two sacks on the season and 28 total quarterback pressures allowed.

In the penalty department for 2024, Seumalo was flagged five times in total, with three of those being for false starts. His other two regular season penalties were for holding. Seumalo was also flagged once during the team’s lone playoff contest last season and that was also for a false start.

In total, Seumalo, who will turn 32 in October, has played in 111 regular season games to date in his NFL career with 90 starts. He’s logged 6,092 career snaps on offense so far during regular season play and 374 more on special teams.

Outlook: Seumalo will unquestionably be the starting left guard for the Steelers in 2025, and once again, he’ll be the veteran player in the offensive lineman room. He will be joined on the left side of the offensive line in 2025 by T Broderick Jones, who is expected to finally flip over from the right side.

The Steelers need their offensive line to take a huge step forward in 2025, and Seumalo obviously needs to do his part in making sure that happens. That offensive line unit will be protecting a new starting quarterback in 2025 in Aaron Rodgers, who is now in his 40s.

The Steelers need the 2023 version of Seumalo in 2025, and that goal is certainly obtainable. How he plays in 2025 will likely go a long way in determining if the team wants to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent next offseason. Even if Seumalo has a great 2025 season, it’s quite possible that he’ll be playing elsewhere in 2026 if he doesn’t decide to retire, as the Steelers are likely to address the guard position in the first four rounds of next year’s draft.

While Seumalo did make his first Pro Bowl last season, he did so as an injury replacement. The 2025 season would be a wonderful time to earn an outright Pro Bowl player designation and for him to possibly receive some serious All-Pro consideration for the first time in his long career, as well.

WR Ben Skowronek: Following his release from the Houston Texans last August, Skowronek was signed to the Steelers’ practice squad before the start of the 2024 regular season. After being elevated to the team’s Active/Inactive roster for the first two games of the 2024 regular season, a shoulder injury landed Skowronek on the Steelers’ Reserve/Injured list for several weeks.

Upon returning from his shoulder injury in Week 10, Skowronek remained on the active roster for the rest of the 2024 season. In total, he logged 101 offensive snaps during the regular season and 149 more on special teams, where he was a core player on the punt and kickoff teams. Skowronek finished the 2024 regular season with five receptions for 69 yards and seven total tackles on special teams with two fumble recoveries, as well.

In the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season, Skowronek, who was also slowed some late last season by a hip injury, played seven snaps on offense and 11 more on special teams. He registered two total special teams tackles in that playoff loss.

For his NFL career to date, Skowronek, who originally entered the NFL in 2021 with the Los Angeles Rams as a seventh-round draft pick out of Notre Dame, has registered 63 receptions for 644 yards and a touchdown in 1,191 total offensive snaps played in the regular season. He’s also logged 718 total regular season special teams snaps to date on his way to registering 29 total tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Outlook: Skowronek has a lot of value when it comes to his special teams play, especially as a gunner on the punt coverage unit. He’s also a capable wide receiver on offense and blocks well in the running game. Those combined qualities give Skowronek a great shot at making the 53-man roster this summer as either a fifth or sixth wide receiver.

Should the Steelers ultimately decide to keep six wide receivers on their initial 53-man roster to start the 2025 regular season, Skowronek feels like a lock to be included in that group. If, however, the team decides to only keep five wide receivers initially, Skowronek’s spot within that group could wind up being a bit questionable overall.

If not for his 2024 shoulder injury, Skowronek more than likely would have played in every game last season for the Steelers, and that’s mainly due to his special teams abilities. At worst, Skowronek could start the 2025 regular season on the Steelers’ practice squad. I have a feeling he’ll end up on the initial 53-man roster come Week 1. He’ll be hard to beat out when it comes to his gunner work on the punt coverage team, in addition to the fact that he does have some limited value on offense as a wide receiver.

DT Jacob Slade: Originally signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2023 as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State, Slade signed a Reserve/Future contract with the Steelers in January of 2024. He spent all of last season and offseason with the Steelers and was waived by the team after the preseason ended.

The Steelers then proceeded to sign Slade to their practice squad before the start of the 2024 regular season, and the defensive lineman remained on the unit for the entire year, which was a huge accomplishment. The Steelers again signed Slade to another Reserve/Future contract after the 2024 season ended in January.

Last year during the preseason, Slade played 71 total snaps on defense and 13 more on special teams. While most of those snaps came at left defensive end, he was moved up and down the line in those three 2024 preseason games. He ended the 2024 preseason with nine total tackles on defense.

For his college career at Michigan State, Slade registered 88 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, four sacks, four passes defensed, and one fumble recovery over a span of four seasons.

During the 2023 pre-draft process, Slade measured in at 6031, 285 pounds with 9 1/2-inch hands and 32 3/8-inch arms. He ran his pro-day 40-yard dash in 4.95 seconds, did 24 reps on the bench, and posted a vertical jump of 31 inches to go along with a broad jump of 9’2″. His pro-day short shuttle time was 4.52-seconds, and his three-cone time was 7.63-seconds.

Outlook: While Slade has managed to be an NFL practice squad player for most of the last two seasons, he’s still yet to see any action in a regular season game. As a former undrafted free agent, that’s not overly surprising. Even so, Slade will have a tough time making the Steelers’ 53-man roster this summer.

The Steelers rebuilt their defensive line room this past offseason, and those moves included the team spending two of their 2025 draft picks on defensive tackles Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black. The Steelers also signed free agent DT Daniel Ekuale this past offseason in addition to re-signing DT Isaiahh Loudermilk. The team still has DT Logan Lee, a 2024 draft pick of theirs, also under contract.

Barring numerous injuries to defensive linemen this offseason, Slade more than likely will be competing throughout training camp and the preseason for a spot on the 2025 practice squad. He’ll have a lot of competition for a place on the practice squad in the form of Domenique Davis and Esezi Otomewo. At the very least, and assuming he stays healthy, we could once again see Slade log at least 50 defensive snaps during the 2025 preseason contests.

Previous Posts In This Series:

Related Items:2025 Training Camp, Ben Skowronek, Isaac Seumalo, Jacob Slade

Steelers Depot

Recommended for you