The second week of Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College brought a little of everything: players flashing, players slipping, and a few names forcing their way into the conversation before the pads even come off.
If there’s a headliner on the defensive side, it’s hard to look past the trio Pittsburgh appears ready to roll with up front. Derrick Harmon, Cam Heyward and Yahya Black are looking like the Steelers’ starting three on the defensive line, and that group has been every bit as imposing as it sounds.
Harmon, in particular, is starting to look like a problem for everyone else. He’s been dominant against the run and is showing more as a pass rusher, too, which is a big leap from where he was a year ago.
Black has been right there with him in terms of impact, and the rookie is turning heads with the kind of force that’s hard to ignore. Since the pads came on, he’s been one of the best players on the field, beating starters like Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick and Spencer Anderson at nose tackle.
Brandon Smith has also been one of the camp’s biggest surprises, and maybe the most impressive offensive player on the roster so far. The 27-year-old is supposed to be fighting an uphill battle to make this team, but he keeps making himself impossible to ignore.
He’s been making plays in the end zone on catches from Drew Allar and has developed one of the better connections on the team with Aaron Rodgers. Two weeks in, he’s still making noise every day, and that kind of consistency is exactly how a player goes from long shot to serious roster threat.
Another name that has made a real jump is Gabe Rubio. The sixth-round pick from Notre Dame came into camp with plenty of skepticism around his selection, but he’s starting to look like the Steelers knew exactly what they were doing.
He’s holding up as a run defender in the middle and has done well against Brock Hoffman and Ryan McCollum. Right now, he looks like a player on track for the 53-man roster, and the fight to keep him there may not be much of a fight at all.
He looks physical and tough to move, and that has stood out in a camp full of bigger names.
On the back end, Jamel Dean has flipped the script after a shaky opening week. There was real concern about how he looked early, but that talk has quieted down fast.
He’s now consistently winning reps against DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr., and he closed Week 2 with a pick-six against Aaron Rodgers on the first pass of Saturday Night Lights. With Asante Samuel Jr. also looking strong, the Steelers’ cornerback room is turning into one of the more surprising groups in the league.
Then there’s Kevin Jobity Jr., the undrafted rookie from Syracuse who may be the most unfamiliar name on the list but is playing like someone worth remembering. He’s been one of the more impressive defensive linemen in camp, winning reps on the inside against both the run and the pass while also working outside as an edge rusher. He’s still a long shot to make the roster, but he’s doing enough to make the practice squad look like a real possibility.
Not everyone is building momentum, though. Will Howard took a step back in Week 2, and that matters because Mason Rudolph appears to have Mike McCarthy’s support.
With the sense that the Steelers won’t carry all four quarterbacks, Howard needs to close the gap quickly if he wants to avoid ending up on the practice squad or somewhere else. Instead, he enters the first week of the preseason with more ground to make up after a rougher stretch.
Gennings Dunker has also had a rough go of it. The Steelers’ third-round pick was supposed to come in and push Spencer Anderson and Brock Hoffman for a job, but that hasn’t happened.
He’s been acceptable as a run blocker, but pass protection has been a mess. He’s getting too high, losing his footwork and getting beat repeatedly.
It’s been an ugly camp, made even more obvious once the pads went on, and if he hadn’t been a third-round pick, he probably wouldn’t be in the picture at all.
Broderick Jones ended the week with a better day, but the bigger picture hasn’t been pretty. His technique has looked rough, he’s been slow at the point of attack and he’s barely over 300 pounds, making him the lightest offensive lineman on the roster.
For a player coming back from a serious neck injury, that’s a tough combination. He needs a big week to keep himself in the mix.
Kaden Wetjen is in a different category, but his offensive work still drew attention for the wrong reasons. The Steelers drafted him to be a return specialist, and if he were simply a special teams piece, his offense wouldn’t matter nearly as much.
But because he was a fourth-round pick, every snap gets watched. His week was defined by two bad drops from Drew Allar in a two-minute drill, and he never really recovered.
He doesn’t look like an NFL wide receiver right now, which raises the question of how many special teams specialists a team can carry in the receiver room before it gets too thin at the actual pass-catching spots. Wetjen should make the team, but he’s not making his case as an offensive player.
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Steelers QB Battle Just Put Unexpected Pressure On The Depth Chart
The Steelers still have some sorting to do before they settle on their offensive identity for 2026, and the quarterback room has become one of the more interesting parts of camp. With Drew Allar, Aaron Rodgers and Will Howard all in the mix, the group already had plenty of layers, but the big question has been how the depth chart would shake out behind the veteran centerpiece.
Mike McCarthy has helped turn that conversation in a different direction by signaling Mason Rudolph may have a real place on the roster after all. Rudolphs experience has mattered, and his work in training camp has kept him in the picture as the Steelers continue to weigh how much they want to lean on Rodgers, whose role is expected to be limited by age. [Read more 🡒]
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Michael Pittman, Jr. was out after a leg issue from a recent practice, while D.K. Metcalf did not take part as the team managed his workload. That opened the door for young wideouts Germie Bernard and Roman Wilson to get a longer look, and it added another layer to a camp that already has Will Howard and Drew Allar battling for the starting job under center. [Read more 🡒]