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 Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, and Ben Sauls.
QB Aaron Rodgers: After Rodgers was officially released by the New York Jets in March, and after his ex-team signed former Steelers free agent QB Justin Fields to a two-year contract, the longtime veteran seemed destined to become Pittsburgh’s new quarterback. Even so, it took most of the spring and early summer for Rodgers to finally sign on the dotted line with the Steelers. In fact, Rodgers didn’t sign with the Steelers until right before the team conducted its annual three-day mandatory minicamp in June.
Rodgers, by all appearances, plans on 2025 being the final season of his long NFL career. As for the one-year contract that he signed with the Steelers, it has a base value of $13.65 million with an up-to value of $19.5 million. For Rodgers to achieve that maximum amount of $19.5 million, the Steelers will need to win the Super Bowl this season with Rodgers playing a big part in that when it comes to percentage of offensive snaps played.
The last two seasons that Rodgers spent with the Jets were pretty uneventful overall. His first season in New York in 2023 was cut short right as it got underway due to an Achilles injury. Rodgers only played four offensive snaps for the Jets in 2023, and he attempted just one pass, which he failed to complete. In 2024, Rodgers returned from his Achilles injury to play in all 17 regular season games for the Jets on his way to completing 368 of his 584 total pass attempts for 3,897 yards with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Rodgers was, however, sacked 40 times in 2024 and he rushed for just 107 yards on 22 total attempts, with most of these being scrambles.
For his NFL career to date, Rodgers, who was originally selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, has completed 5,369 of his 8,245 total pass attempts in regular season action for 62,952 yards with 503 touchdowns and 116 interceptions. To his credit, Rodgers has never thrown more than 13 interceptions in any one season, and he’s thrown at least 25 touchdown passes in every season that he played more than nine games in.
Rodgers obviously has plenty of big game and playoff experience at this point of his career, and he’s won one Super Bowl to date, which came back in 2010 against the Steelers.
Outlook: The 2025 version of Rodgers is obviously a far cry from the 2010 version. In fact, the 2025 version is a far cry from the 2021 version, which was his last very good season with the Packers. Even so, Rodgers should be able to win some games for the Steelers in 2025 and potentially even get the team into the playoffs as well.
Rodgers still has a strong arm overall. His mobility, however, is pretty much nonexistent at this point and that’s not surprising with him now nearing 42. Rodgers is still smart as a whip when it comes to analyzing defenses, as he’s seen pretty much everything in his 20 NFL seasons.
For Rodgers to have a successful 2025 season in Pittsburgh, the Steelers’ offensive line must take a huge step forward as a unit in both the run blocking and pass protection phases. If the Steelers’ offense can’t run the football effectively in 2025, it could make for a long season for Rodgers, who can no longer take a substantial number of violent hits and sacks. Rodgers’ success in 2025 might also depend a lot on how effectively he can use his top two tight ends, Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith, in the passing game.
While the Steelers will have a great wide receiver weapon for Rodgers to throw to in 2025 in DK Metcalf, the team’s complement to him at that particular position is likely to be made up of a committee of players. Rodgers will also likely need to use a running back in the passing game quite a bit in 2025. Hopefully, play-action can play a big part in what Rodgers does in 2025 as well.
Rodgers obviously doesn’t want the 2025 season to be just one final sad footnote to end his NFL career. He went 5-12 with the Jets in 2024 and on paper, they had a pretty nice roster overall and especially after New York traded for WR Davante Adams midway through the season. If there is one thing to look forward to in 2025 when it comes to Rodgers, it would be that he played reasonably well to close out the 2024 season. In total, Rodgers was 106 of 165 passing for 1,270 yards with nine touchdowns, and three interceptions in the Jets final five regular season games of 2024. He was, however, still 2-3 in those five games and he was sacked 12 times during that span of contests as well.
If the Steelers really want to win at least a playoff game in 2025, this season’s Rodgers must be a lot better than the 2024 version was. For the Steelers to win the Super Bowl this season, Rodgers might need to play more like the 2016 version of himself. At 41 years of age, that’s a lot to ask for.
QB Mason Rudolph: After spending the 2024 season with the Tennessee Titans, Rudolph decided this past offseason to sign back with the Steelers, the team that originally drafted in 2019 out of Oklahoma State. Rudolph signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract with the Steelers that will result in him earning $4.5 million in 2025. Rudolph left the Steelers for the Titans in March of 2023 as an unrestricted free agent.
Last season with the Titans, Rudolph started five games on his way to registering 1,530 yards passing and nine touchdowns on 146 total completions. Rudolph, however, also threw nine interceptions in 2024, and the Titans were 1-4 in the five games that he started for them. He was also sacked 11 times last season and rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 25 total attempts.
For his NFL career, Rudolph has completed 437 of his 686 regular season passing attempts for 4,615 yards with 28 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He also completed 22 of his 39 pass attempts for 229 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the one playoff game he’s played in so far, which came as a member of the Steelers to close out their 2023 season. He’s been sacked 33 times during regular season action so far.
Rudolph’s most memorable playing time so far in his career came in the Steelers’ final three regular season games of the 2023 season. Rudolph started all three of those games and the Steelers won all three of those contests as well. Those three wins helped the team make the playoffs that season. Rudolph essentially was the Steelers’ third-string quarterback for most of the 2023 season.
Outlook: With Rodgers now in the fold, he will be the Steelers’ starter to open the 2025 season. So, barring an injury to Rodgers or extremely poor play by him during the 2025 regular season, Rudolph should expect to be the Steelers’ primary backup.
While the Steelers did select QB Will Howard in the sixth round of the 2025 BFL Draft, it’s hard to imagine him beating Rudolph out for the depth chart spot behind Rodgers to open the regular season. Rudolph would have to have an awful training camp and preseason showing to even remotely open the idea that he could be demoted to third string.
Rudolph, at least, has a lot of playing time in the NFL under his belt, so that could come in handy during the 2025 season should Rodgers ultimately get injured or wind up being hugely disappointing. Rudolph has also already ridden on the Pittsburgh roller coaster when it comes to Steelers fans and their support and dislike for him, so that’s also a minor benefit for him at this point in his career.
Honestly, the Steelers could do much worse than Rudolph when it comes to their backup quarterback position in 2025. That said, should Rudolph wind up having to play a lot in 2025, that would mean that something probably went horribly wrong with Rodgers, either by way of injury, or performance.
K Ben Sauls: The Steelers signed Sauls as one of their original undrafted free agents this past offseason and quite honestly, that wasn’t a bit surprising. After all, Sauls kicked for Pittsburgh in college and thus obviously now has a lot of experience kicking at Acrisure Stadium, which is a tough place to do that. On top of all of that, the Steelers usually like to have two kickers during training camp and the preseason.
Another reason for Saul being added is that veteran K Chris Boswell isn’t going to kick forever. In fact, Boswell has just two years remaining on his current contract and thus probably the final two years of his great NFL career, even though 2024 was arguably his best season ever. Getting an even closer look at Sauls this summer could come into play for the Steelers after Boswell’s time in Pittsburgh is over.
For his college career at Pittsburgh, Sauls was 52 of 64 on his field goal attempts and 122 of 124 on extra point tries. He was 7 of 12 during his college career when it came to attempts of 50 yards or longer in addition to going 45 of 52 on attempts shorter than 50 yards. Sauls only had one field attempt blocked during his college career.
Sauls’ career long in college was 58 yards and he made three others from 57 yards out as well. All four of his career-longest field goals made came during the 2024 season.
Outlook: Barring an injury happening to Boswell this offseason, Sauls isn’t likely to overtake the Steelers’ longtime kicker, who might just get a cash raise for 2025 this summer as well. Even so, Sauls should at least be able to stick around on the Steelers’ offseason roster throughout the preseason and thus get a few opportunities to show off his leg and accuracy in the team’s three exhibition contests.
The Steelers are allowed to have a 17-man practice squad in 2025, with one of those spots belonging to an International Pathway Program player. While it’s unlikely that the Steelers would end up signing Sauls to their practice squad for the start of the 2025 regular season, much stranger things than that have happened before in Pittsburgh.
A perfect preseason showing by Sauls, and that includes his kickoffs as well, might result in a few other NFL teams showing some interest in him closer to Week 1 of the 2025 regular season. Should that ultimately happen, maybe, just maybe, another team might consider trading a seventh-round pick for him. While that’s unlikely to happen, one just never knows.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Calvin Anderson, Spencer Anderson, Calvin Austin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Keeanu Benton, Beanie Bishop Jr., Yahya Black
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Chris Boswell, Nick Broeker, Carson Bruener
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Sebastian Castro, Dylan Cook, Domenique Davis
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandin Echols, Daniel Ekuale, DeShon Elliott
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Troy Fautanu, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Zach Frazier
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Pat Freiermuth, Kenneth Gainwell, JJ Galbreath
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Derrick Harmon, Devin Harper, Malik Harrison
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Nick Herbig, Cameron Heyward, Connor Heyward
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Alex Highsmith, Cole Holcomb, Will Howard
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Evan Hull, Max Hurleman, D’Shawn Jamison
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandon Johnson, Kaleb Johnson, Quindell Johnson
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Cameron Johnston, Broderick Jones, Steven Jones
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Donte Kent, Miles Killebrew, Christian Kuntz
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — DeMarvin Leal, Logan Lee, Montana Lemonious-Craig
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Eku Leota, Isaiahh Loudermilk, Dean Lowry
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Ryan McCollum, Mason McCormick, Cameron McCutcheon
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Lance McCutcheon, Kyler McMichael, DK Metcalf
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Scotty Miller, Jeremiah Moon, Doug Nester
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Esezi Otomewo, Cordarrelle Patterson, James Pierre
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Joey Porter Jr., Patrick Queen, Mark Robinson
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