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90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Joey Porter Jr., Patrick Queen, Mark Robinson

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 10, 2025 at 5:45 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 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 Joey Porter Jr., Patrick Queen, and Mark Robinson.

CB Joey Porter Jr.: In his second NFL season, Porter, who was selected by the Steelers in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Penn State, started 16 regular-season games in 2024 and the team’s lone playoff contest at outside cornerback. Porter’s one game missed was due to a knee injury and that was later in the year.

For the 2024 regular season, Porter tallied 70 total tackles, two tackles for loss, one interception, and seven passes defensed. He played 971 regular-season snaps on defense and 78 more on special teams. In the lone playoff game last season, Porter registered six total tackles and one pass defensed.

In coverage for the 2024 season, Porter allowed 52 receptions for 642 yards on 78 total targets, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF also gave him a defensive grade of 54.6 for the 2024 season and a coverage grade of 56.3.

The biggest bugaboo in 2024 when it came to Porter’s play in 2024 was penalties. In total, Porter was flagged 15 times in 2024 for 126 yards. Six of those penalties came in one game. Additionally, six were for defensive pass interference, five were for defensive holding, and two more for illegal use of hands. Porter was flagged twice more in the Steelers’ lone playoff game, both for defensive holding. Keep in mind that Porter was flagged 12 times during his 2023 rookie season.

Porter showed improvement as a tackler in 2024 and that’s at least one huge positive for him coming out of his second NFL season.

Outlook: Porter still has the ability to become one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks based on how he’s played and developed in his first two seasons. That said, he must cut down on his penalties in 2025, and not just a little bit. He also needs to start making more splash plays.

Porter tallied just one interception during college career, and he has all of two so far in the NFL. Averaging just one interception and nine passes defensed a season just isn’t going to cut it in Pittsburgh, especially if he continues his high penalty rate.

Porter has two new mentors in the Steelers’ cornerback room this year in Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay. The arrival of those two players will hopefully result in him learning a few more tricks related to his trade. Remember, Porter also had CB Patrick Peterson as a mentor as a rookie.

Last season, Porter switched sides quite a bit in the Steelers’ defense, and he even logged some snaps in the slot. I expect that we will see him have an alignment repeat in 2025. The Steelers should be able to be a little less predictable in coverages in 2025 with the team trading S Minkah Fitzpatrick last week. Maybe that will help Porter a little bit as well.

Porter needs to have his best season to date in 2025, one that ends with him being in the conversation as a top-10 NFL cornerback. He is primed to sign a lucrative contract extension next offseason if he takes a huge step forward in 2025. However, another season similar to his first two might result in him being forced to play out his rookie contract in 2026.

ILB Patrick Queen: The Steelers made Queen their primary free agent addition in 2024, signing him to a three-year, $41 million contract last offseason. Queen, as expected, was the Steelers’ primary inside linebacker and green-dot wearer throughout the 2024 season.

Queen played in 2024 on his way to logging 1,090 regular-season snaps on defense and 74 more on special teams. He registered 129 total tackles, six tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one sack, five quarterback hits and seven passes defensed during the 2024 regular season. He added 10 more tackles and one tackle for loss in the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season.

While Queen generally played well in his first season in Pittsburgh, he did leave several plays on the field. To start with, Queen had a few missed interceptions in 2024 and a total of 21 missed tackles. Also, Queen allowed 67 receptions for 728 yards and one touchdown in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus. The Steelers had a lot of miscommunication on defense in 2024 as well and with Queen being the quarterback of that unit, some of the blame must lay at his feet for that.

PFF, by the way, gave Queen an overall defensive grade in 2024 of 56.8. His run defense grade was 53.1 while his coverage grade was 54.3.

Outlook: Queen will obviously be the Steelers’ primary inside linebacker once again in 2025 and that’s not up for debate. He’ll also once again will be the quarterback of the defense and thus must do a better job of getting calls disseminated and players lined up in their right spots. The defense just can’t have the same number of gaffes that we saw in 2024.

Queen’s overall play must improve in 2025, especially in the playmaking department. He only had six tackles for loss in 2024 and that needs to double in 2025. He easily could have had three interceptions in 2024 as well. The Steelers’ defense really must be better up the spine of the unit in 2025, especially against the run. Queen will obviously be the main player within that spine in 2025.

With a better season in 2025, Queen could quite easily hit the 150-tackle mark. Additionally, a dozen or more tackles for loss to go along with a few interceptions and sacks might just give him a shot at making the Pro Bowl.

Queen is scheduled to earn $13.83 million in 2025. If he has a 2025 season similar to 2024, he might not see his 2026 contract year, which is scheduled to earn him $13.33 million. On the other hand, a much better 2025 season could result in the Steelers attempting to Queen him to a lucrative contract extension next offseason.

ILB Mark Robinson: Signed by the Steelers in 2023 as an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi, Robinson dressed and played in every game for the team in 2024 and that includes its lone playoff contest.

In total, Robinson logged just eight defensive snaps during the 2024 regular season to go along with 301 snaps on special teams. He logged another five special teams snaps in the team’s lone playoff game as well. Robinson finished the 2024 regular season with six combined tackles and two forced fumbles. Five of those tackles and both forced fumbles came on special teams.

For his NFL career, Robinson has recorded 45 total tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, and three forced fumbles in 202 regular-season snaps played on defense and 619 more on special teams. His single-game career high for defensive snaps played is 44, and that came later during the 2023 regular season.

Outlook: Robinson’s future when it comes to the 2025 season is quite a bit murky as the Steelers seem to have a fairly stacked and full inside linebacker room ahead of training camp getting underway. Not only did the Steelers sign unrestricted free agent ILB Malik Harrison this offseason, but all signs also point to ILB Cole Holcomb now being fully recovered from the 2023 knee injury that caused him to miss the entire 2024 season. Also, the Steelers selected ILB Carson Bruener in the 2025 NFL Draft.

While Robinson has played extensively on special teams in his first three NFL seasons, he has logged just a little more than 200 snaps on defense with just eight of those coming during the 2024 regular season. That screams that the Steelers don’t really trust Robinson on defense moving forward and that his main value to them is as a special teams player.

Holcomb’s status during the summer will be interesting to pay close attention to as he and Robinson could very well be competing for one inside linebacker spot on the 53-man roster. Bruener is another player to watch because he brings a nice special teams resume from college to the NFL.

Robinson might not make the 53-man roster come Week 1 and if that winds up the case, he could ultimately start the 2025 regular season on the team’s practice squad. He has a fighter’s chance when it comes to making the 53-man roster, but not much more than that.

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Related Items:2025 Training Camp, Joey Porter Jr., Mark Robinson, Patrick Queen

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