The Pittsburgh Steelers will wrap up their 2025 preseason on Thursday night with a road game against the Carolina Panthers. So, with that preseason finale now closing in, I thought I would pass along seven very specific and noteworthy things I think most fans of the Steelers should look for Thursday night. These seven things that I have noted are things I certainly will be paying close attention to.
After reading my list of seven things, feel free to add to it in the comments below.
Top Run? – In the Steelers’ first two preseason games, the starting offensive line unit played 25 total snaps. Within that, however, just five running plays were run for a total of only 14 yards. Seven of those yards came on one run. Three others produced just one yard. Knowing that the Steelers will need to lean heavily on their run game in 2025, it would be nice to see a larger number of running plays with the starting offensive line on the field against the Panthers and hopefully several wind up being successful ones. Getting starting RB Jaylen Warren some runs Thursday night would also be great to see. It would also be nice to see starting LG Isaac Seumalo out there against the Panthers as well as he has yet to play a snap during the preseason. Spencer Anderson played in his place in the first two preseason games.
A Re-Peat At Tackle? – While OL Andrus Peat has only been with the team since right before the preseason opener, he still has a chance at earning a 53-man roster spot. We’ll see if T Calvin Anderson is able to make his preseason debut Thursday night but that doesn’t seem likely at the time of this post. In the preseason opener, Peat, a former first round draft pick, played only at left tackle and his performance was not noteworthy. In the second preseason game, Peat only played at left guard, and he looked good. Fast forwarding to Thursday night’s preseason finale, it would be great to see Peat return to left tackle and possibly see some snaps at right tackle as well. If Peat can turn in a nice showing at tackle Thursday night, he might just nail down a spot on the 53-man roster and even find himself dressing for the Steelers’ Week 1 contest.
Purposeful Punt Propositions! – It certainly seems like the Steelers are entering their preseason finale with a punting battle between Cameron Johnston and Corliss Waitman. HC Mike Tomlin said this week that the two punters will trade blows again Thursday night against the Panthers so there’s that to watch. However, through two preseason games, Waitman has not been asked to punt on a short field while Johnston hasn’t had many chances to punt on a long field. If I were Tomlin, I would like to see Waitman punt on short fields Thursday night and Johnston punting on longer fields. While one usually shouldn’t hope for many punts in game, tonight might be a case where Tomlin roots for several of them at various different spots on the field. The loser of this punter battle could very well wind up being traded next week so it’s important to really showcase both Johnston and Waitman Thursday night.
The Skylar’s The Limit! – Backup QB Skylar Thompson has had a nice preseason, and he should get a lot of playing time again Thursday night against the Panthers. While the Steelers could keep Thompson as their Week 1 third string quarterback by placing rookie QB Will Howard on the Reserve/Injured list as a designated-to-return player, some, including myself, really wonder if that will ultimately happen. With numerous teams around the NFL still probably open to upgrading their quarterback depth chart next week, there might be an opportunity for the Steelers to trade Thompson to the highest bidder next week and especially if the backup quarterback has a really nice showing Thursday night against the Panthers. Heck, even the Panthers might wind up being a team that could use Thompson.
Lee Him Out There! – Steelers second-year DL Logan Lee did not play any during his 2024 rookie season thanks to a calf injury sustained last year during the preseason. On top of that, Lee, an Iowa product, only logged 40 total defensive snaps during the 2024 preseason. Through two preseason games this year, Lee has logged just 23 defensive snaps. In short, Lee needs a lot of playing time against the Panthers if he hopes to show that he is worthy of making the 53-man roster this year. Most Steelers fans should hope to see Lee play at least 50 percent of all defensive snaps on Thursday night on top of whatever special teams work he receives as well.
Three-Headed Corner Monster Reveal? – To hear Tomlin talk on Tuesday, the plan Thursday night includes finally playing the team’s top three cornerbacks in Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Joey Porter Jr., as all of them sat out the first two preseason games. Tomlin wants to see communication and cohesiveness among those three cornerbacks, and it sounds like he won’t care that the Panthers’ starting quarterback Thursday night is likely to be Jack Plummer. Will Tomlin get cold feet right after warmups and decide against playing Ramsey, Slay, and Porter? We’ve seen him doing similar things in previous preseason games. Could the weather play into such a decision? It’s certainly possible. Should, however, Ramsey, Slay and Porter all wind up playing Thursday night, for how many snaps will Tomlin let the trio stay on the field?
Debuts Of The Dinged? – The Steelers have a handful of players who have yet to play during the preseason due to injuries. That long list of players includes WR Calvin Austin III, OLB Alex Highsmith, C Ryan McCollum, T Calvin Anderson, CB Cory Trice Jr., CB Donte Kent, and QB Will Howard, who almost certainly won’t play Thursday night. Even if Kent makes his NFL preseason debut Thursday night, it’s almost certain that he won’t make the 53-man roster. Even so, Kent playing Thursday night would be a sign that he will be healthy enough to start the regular season on the team’s practice squad. Trice really needs to get back healthy tonight as well, but that might be too strong of a wish. Tomlin said on Tuesday that he will leave the proverbial light on for several of the injured players when it comes to the preseason finale against the Panthers. Will any of those injured players I listed wind up playing Thursday night? A few of them doing so could make final 53-man roster decisions a lot easier.
