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90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith, Donald Parham Jr.

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 20, 2025 at 12:00 pm

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 this upcoming week 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 final three players we will preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2025 training camp are: CB Jalen Ramsey, TE Jonnu Smith, and TE Donald Parham Jr.

CB Jalen Ramsey: Selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars out of Florida State in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft, Ramsey arrived in Pittsburgh via a June trade with the Miami Dolphins that also included the Steelers acquiring TE Jonnu Smith. Ramsey spent his first full three NFL seasons in Jacksonville.

During his fourth NFL season, Ramsey was traded by the Jaguars to the Los Angeles Rams. After playing three-and-a-half seasons with the Rams, Ramsey was traded to the Dolphins in March 2023. He played in 27 regular-season games for the Dolphins over the last two seasons.

For his NFL career, Ramsey has played in 135 regular-season games with 134 starts. He has registered 24 regular-season interceptions, 108 passes defensed, three sacks, six forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and 534 total tackles in nine NFL seasons. Across 10 career playoff games, Ramsey has registered one interception, seven passes defensed, and 33 total tackles.

In total, Ramsey has played 8,531 regular-season snaps on defense and 462 more on special teams. Ramsey also arrives in Pittsburgh as a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time first-team All-Pro.

Through the 2024 season, Ramsey has earned $116,871,330 from three different NFL teams. He’s set to earn another $19.5 million from the Steelers in 2025.

Outlook: On the heels of the Steelers trading for Ramsey, expect him to play plenty on defense throughout the 2025 season. Ramsey is likely to be a starting outside cornerback for the Steelers in their base defense, and he will likely kick inside to the slot when the defense uses sub-packages. Ramsey has plenty of experience when it comes to playing on both sides of a defense and in the slot.

While free safety certainly isn’t Ramsey’s natural position, the Steelers could use him some in that role in 2025 as part of rotations and different sub-packages. His versatility, awareness, and playmaking ability should allow for him to move around some in the secondary.

Though no longer considered a top-five cornerback in the NFL globally, Ramsey is still a defensive back who demands lots of attention from opposing offenses. He’s still hard to target in the passing game consistently. He has also consistently been a great run defender since entering the NFL in 2016.

The main red flag from last season when it comes to Ramsey is his tackling. He missed a career-high 14 tackles in 2024 with the Dolphins, according to Pro Football Focus. The only other real notable negative when it comes to Ramsey is that he’s never registered more than four interceptions in any one NFL regular season.

Ramsey turns 31 in October, so he is getting up there in age. Even so, he should have at least two good seasons remaining in him. The Steelers have invested even more money in their defense in 2025, and Ramsey is a big part of that spending. The team has rebuilt its secondary this offseason and Ramsey needs to stay healthy and do his part along with fellow cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay, another veteran offseason addition.

Should Ramsey play like the Steelers think and hope he will in 2025, the veteran cornerback could very well wind up with another set of first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors.

TE Jonnu Smith: The Steelers acquired Jonnu Smith, along with Ramsey, via a June trade with the Dolphins that included Pittsburgh S Minkah Fitzpatrick being shipped back to the team that drafted him. The potential for the Steelers to acquire Smith this offseason via a trade was rumored for several weeks prior to the deal finally being made.

Selected by the Tennessee Titans in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Florida International, Smith spent his first four NFL seasons with the team that drafted him. In March 2021, he signed a four-year, $50 million contract with the New England Patriots as an unrestricted free agent. However, he only played two seasons with the Patriots before being traded to the Atlanta Falcons in March 2023.

After one season with the Falcons, Jonnu Smith was released, and he quickly signed a two-year contract with the Dolphins. He had a career season with Miami in 2024, and contract demands likely played a big part in him being traded to the Steelers. The Steelers signed Smith to a one-year extension that included $12.1 million in new money after they acquired him from the Dolphins.

For his NFL career, Smith has played in 124 regular-season games with 84 starts. He has registered 307 regular-season receptions for 3,307 yards and 28 touchdowns. He’s also rushed 19 times for 126 yards and a touchdown.

Last season with the Dolphins, Smith caught 88 passes for 884 yards and eight touchdowns on 111 targets. He rushed twice for minus-one yards. In seven career playoff games, Jonnu Smith has caught 11 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Altogether, Smith has played 4,837 regular-season offensive snaps in eight NFL seasons and 284 more on special teams. Last season with the Dolphins, he played 626 regular-season snaps and just one on special teams.

Outlook: Jonnu Smith’s arrival in Pittsburgh reunites him with OC Arthur Smith, who was with Tennessee all four seasons that the tight end was there. Arthur Smith was the Titans’ tight ends coach for the first two seasons when Jonnu Smith arrived in Tennessee before becoming the team’s offensive coordinator the final two seasons. The Falcons trading for Jonnu Smith in 2023 was mainly due to Arthur Smith being the team’s head coach that season.

Arthur Smith loves using offensive personnel groupings that include two and three tight ends so Jonnu Smith, along with Pat Freiermuth, figures to see a lot of playing time in 2025. Jonnu Smith can play all over the place on offense. That includes lining up outside like a wide receiver and in the slot. To a lesser degree, Freiermuth is similarly versatile like Smith.

With veteran QB Aaron Rodgers now with the Steelers, a good chunk of the team’s passing game in 2025 is likely to run through Jonnu Smith and Freiermuth. While Smith isn’t likely to have a 2025 season similar to the one he had last season with the Dolphins, he still could finish the Steelers’ 17-game slate with at least 50 catches and 500 yards receiving.

Jonnu Smith’s ability to move around in the offense and take advantage of defensive mismatches is what makes him so useful to the Steelers. He’ll likely be used mostly as a detached tight end by Arthur Smith in 2025, as he’s not that great of an in-line blocker in the running game.

Jonnu Smith has averaged four explosive plays and 3.5 touchdowns a season since entering the NFL. That should about be his expectations when it comes to his 2025 season in Pittsburgh.

Before the 2025 regular season starts, Smith will turn 30. Even so, he was able to play in all 17 regular-season games his last two years with the Dolphins and Falcons. How he plays in 2025 will go a long way toward deciding if he’ll see his 2026 contract year with the Steelers.

TE Donald Parham Jr.: The Steelers signed Parham to a one-year, veteran benefit contract in February. That deal did not include a signing bonus or any guaranteed money.

Parham entered the NFL in 2019 when the Detroit Lions signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Stetson. After being waived by the Lions prior to their 2019 training camp, Parham caught on with the Washington Redskins. After failing to make their 53-man roster as a rookie, Parham spent a short amount of time at the start of the 2019 regular season on Washington’s practice squad.

In 2020, Parham played for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL, but that league ultimately folded midway through the season. He landed with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020 and played four seasons with them through 2023.

After the Chargers released Parham late in the 2024 offseason, he signed with the Denver Broncos’ practice squad. He remained on that unit most of the regular season.

Unfortunately for Parham, he tore his Achilles during one of the Steelers’ OTA practices this offseason and the team placed him on its Reserve/Injured list.

Outlook: There really is no outlook to write for Parham when it comes to the 2025 season because of him landing on the Steelers’ Reserve/Injured list with a torn Achilles. Following surgery, Parham will rehab and that length of time will likely take all of the 2025 regular season. He will not play for the Steelers in 2025.

Parham’s contract included a split-salary clause. Meaning, the Steelers will have to absorb a salary cap charge for him in the amount of $540,000 once the 2025 regular season gets underway. Parham is unlikely to be re-signed by the Steelers after his contract expires in March.

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Related Items:2025 Training Camp, Donald Parham Jr., Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith

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