The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June, and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which will get 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 will preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2025 training camp are Cameron Johnston, Broderick Jones, and Steven Jones.
P Cameron Johnston: The Steelers signed Johnston to a three-year, $9 million contract in March of 2024, and he was one of the team’s key early offseason free agent additions. His deal included just $2,875,000 in fully guaranteed money as well.
As expected, Johnston entered the 2024 regular season as the team’s punter. Unfortunately, a serious knee injury sustained during the Steelers’ Week 1 game ultimately resulted in him needing to be placed on the Reserve/Injured list for the remainder of the year. His first season in Pittsburgh ended quickly, with him punting two times for 103 yards, with a long of 58 yards. One of his punts landed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line as well.
Altogether, Johnston played eight special-teams snaps for the Steelers before being lost for the season in Week 1. He also held for K Chris Boswell on his six field goal attempts in that contest.
Outlook: So far this offseason, Johnston appears to be fully recovered from his 2024 knee injury that required surgery and a lengthy rehab process. He has posted numerous videos on Instagram showing his punting progress and return from injury this offseason. Currently, there is no reason to think that Johnston won’t be ready to participate fully at the start of training camp.
The Steelers seem poised to enter this year’s training camp with two punters, Johnston and Corliss Waitman, under contract. Waitman replaced Johnston last season and did an admirable job overall. With Johnston not being owed any guaranteed money in 2025, he will now battle against Waitman during training camp and the preseason for the right to be the team’s punter in 2025. The loser of that punter battle might possibly be traded before the start of the regular season.
T Broderick Jones: Originally selected by the Steelers in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Georgia, Broderick Jones is still attempting to find his footing in the NFL, especially when it comes to showing that he can be a long-term starting tackle.
Last season, his second in the NFL, Broderick Jones mostly played at right tackle, just like he did during his rookie season. Dan Moore Jr. was the team’s starting left tackle again in 2024, and his inability, or at least lack of comfort, at right tackle played a big part in Broderick Jones mostly staying at right tackle a second consecutive season. Additionally, the Steelers lost their newest drafted tackle, Troy Fautanu, who was the team’s first-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Washington, to a knee injury in Week 2. He never made it back from that injury during the 2024 season.
Broderick Jones’ poor play in Week 2, the game in which Fautanu injured his knee, probably would have resulted in him being sat down for a while in 2024 had this year’s first-rounder not sustained his injury. Broderick Jones, however, went on to start every game for the Steelers at right tackle from Week 3 on. Broderick Jones seemingly played through some sort of right arm injury most of the 2024 season, as he wore a brace on that limb quite a bit.
Altogether, Jones played 1,073 offensive snaps during the 2024 regular season and 78 more on special teams. If you go by the charting and grading put out by Pro Football Focus, Broderick Jones allowed 10 sacks during the regular season and 43 total pressures. His regular season pass blocking grade was a dismal 54.6, while his run blocking grade was just slightly better at 64.2.
Broderick Jones was also penalized 10 times during the 2024 regular season, five of which were holding calls against him. Two other penalties were for unsportsmanlike conduct, and two others were for false starts.
Overall, Broderick Jones’s 2024 season was disappointing, and the Steelers need him to show a lot of improvement in 2025.
Outlook: With Moore now gone from the Steelers via free agency, and with Fautanu returning this season from his 2024 knee injury, Broderick Jones is expected to be the team’s starting left tackle in 2025. Left tackle was the position that Broderick Jones mostly manned in college, so hopefully, moving back to his more natural side will do wonders for him in 2025.
The Steelers are expecting a huge jump in quality play from their youngish offensive line in 2025, and so it’s important that both Broderick Jones and Fautanu play a huge part in that hope coming to fruition. The team will have a new veteran quarterback in 2025 in Aaron Rodgers, who can no longer take a large number of sacks and heavy hits like he did in 2024 with the New York Jets. Additionally, the Steelers will look to run the football a lot more effectively in 2025, so it’s important that Jones helps that happen on his side.
2025 is a big season for Broderick Jones as the Steelers will need to make the decision on his fifth-year option next spring. Either his play will be good enough to warrant that option being picked up, or it won’t be. It should be a clear answer either way. Another below-the-line season for Broderick Jones in 2025 would really be tough to see. He needs to improve immensely as both a pass protector and run blocker in 2025, and hopefully, moving to left tackle will help that happen.
G Steven Jones: An Oregon product, the Steelers signed Steven Jones this past offseason to a Reserve/Future deal. His signing comes on the heels of him spending the 2024 season on the practice squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team that signed him as an undrafted free agent last season. To the credit of Steven Jones, he lasted the entire 2024 season on the Jaguars’ practice squad.
Last year during the preseason, Jones played 18 offensive snaps for the Jaguars, and all of them came at right guard. During his college career, Steven Jones mostly played at right guard. Even so, he did log snaps at both tackle spots as well. He played over 1,800 snaps in college, and that obviously is a ton of playing time overall.
According to Pro Football Focus, Steven Jones was credited with allowing just four sacks during his college career and 28 total pressures. Additionally, he was penalized 14 times for his entire college career, which spanned six seasons.
Outlook: Now with the Steelers, it’s reasonable to expect Jones to get a lot of reps at right guard this summer during training camp, as that seems to be the position he has the most familiarity with. We could, however, see him get some looks at left guard as well, even though he did not play that position in college. While Jones does have some experience at both tackle spots in college, it might be a stretch to expect him to see snaps outside this summer.
Overall, Steven Jones is likely going to have an uphill battle this summer when it comes to his chances of making the 53-man roster. If he were well-versed at tackle, that could have changed his outlook some. The Steelers, however, do enter training camp this year with a nice group of guards. Their top three right now should be Isaac Seumalo, Mason McCormick, and Spencer Anderson. Backup center Ryan McCollum is also guard-capable when it comes to his position flexibility.
In closing, Steven Jones will likely battle throughout the summer to make the Steelers’ Week 1 practice squad. He should receive a minimum amount of playing time during the preseason, most likely at right guard.
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
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