A mini-series to finish out the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason in preparation for the team’s training camp. A checklist of goals to reach by the time the team breaks for camp in mid-August.
Training Camp Goal No. 1 – Keep The Rookies Healthy
Of course, the goal is to keep everyone healthy. Health is a critically overlooked part of regular and postseason success. That begins with the summer. For the past few cycles, Steelers’ rookies, in particular, have struggled to stay on the field.
In 2024, the team lost several of its class. First round OT Troy Fautanu wasn’t injured during camp, but the first preseason game that took place while the team still called St. Vincent home. He missed the final few practices and the rest of the summer before returning in Week Two (only to suffer a season-ending knee injury the week after). Wide receiver Roman Wilson is the most memorable camp injury, suffering an ankle sprain on the first day in pads. He missed the rest of the summer, an ominous start that led him to play only five offensive snaps all season. His next preseason game will be his first.
They weren’t the only two. Sixth-round DL Logan Lee suffered a hamstring injury late in the year and was placed on injured reserve, knocking him out for the rest of the year. Fellow sixth-rounder S Ryan Watts suffered a career-ending neck injury on one of the final plays of the preseason, though that occurred after training camp.
In 2023, one rookie was lost before camp ended. A checkered medical history caused CB Cory Trice Jr. to fall into the seventh round of the draft, and those injury problems followed him to the NFL. Like Wilson, Trice suffered an injury during the team’s first padded practice, tearing his ACL and missing the rest of the year. Health remains his biggest hurdle.
Injuries are often freak events and can’t always be controlled, though strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz’s poor marks and questionable camp decision-making don’t inspire much confidence. The training wheels will come off, the rookies will play, and hopefully, the group will come out no worse for wear. Nicks and bruises are one thing—that’s football. Lingering and long-term injuries are the real derailing factors at play. Pittsburgh needs to avoid those for a rookie class counted on to play meaningful snaps out of the gate.
