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 next week 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 Corliss Waitman, Gareth Warren, and Jaylen Warren.
P Corliss Waitman: The Steelers signed Waitman last September after starting P Cameron Johnston went down with a serious knee injury in Week 1 of the regular season. Waitman’s addition to the Steelers roster followed the punter spending the 2024 offseason on the Chicago Bears’ roster.
Waitman was no stranger to the Steelers last season. The team originally signed him in 2020 as an undrafted player out of South Alabama. He even punted for the Steelers in two games during the 2021 regular season. He has since punted in the NFL with the Denver Broncos during the 2023 season.
Serving as the Steelers’ punter from Week 2 and on in 2024, Waitman finished last season having punted 65 times for a 46.4 average with a long of 71 yards. He had just five touchbacks during the 2024 regular season, and 27 of his punts also landed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Waitman’s net punting average for the 2024 regular season was 41.4 yards, which tied him for 12th overall in the NFL. He did not have a punt blocked during the regular season, and none were returned for touchdowns, either.
In the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season, Waitman punted five times for an average of 51.4 yards. His net average on those five punts was 50.6 yards. All five punts also went inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, and none resulted in touchbacks.
As expected, Waitman was asked to hold for K Chris Boswell while on the roster last season, and he did an admirable job in that phase of his game. By the way, Boswell had a career season in 2024.
Outlook: With veteran P Cameron Johnston set to return from his 2024 knee injury this summer, the team will watch his progress quite intently to ensure he can return to form. Having Waitman under contract this summer is great insurance for Johnston’s return to action once training camp and the preseason get underway.
While Johnston should be the favorite to win the punting job this offseason, none of the money on his contract past the 2024 season is fully guaranteed. In short, Johnston must show that he can punt up to expectations following his 2024 knee injury.
At the very least, the Steelers should be able to showcase Waitman quite a bit during the preseason, which will help lessen the overall exhibition load on Johnston.
While it’s certainly far from guaranteed to happen, perhaps the Steelers could trade Waitman to another team for a late-round draft pick right before the start of the 2025 regular season. A few years ago, the Steelers initially held on to two punters on their initial 53-man roster in hopes of trading Braden Mann. That attempt failed, however, and Mann was soon released shortly after.
While I doubt Waitman would start the 2025 season on the Steelers’ practice squad, it is at least a plausible notion just the same. At the very least, the Steelers could quickly re-sign Waitman during the season should anything happen to Johnston. That is, unless Waitman ultimately lands with another team on their 53-man roster.
T Gareth Warren: A product of Lindenwood University, Warren was signed this offseason as an undrafted free agent, and that three-year contract included a $2,000 signing bonus.
Warren played left tackle the last two seasons in college and left guard in 2022. He possesses good height and exceptionally good weight, along with good length and a nice hand size.
At his 2025 pro day, Warren measured in at 6054, 328 pounds with 33 5/8-inch arms and 9 5/8-inch hands. He reportedly ran his 40-yard dash in 5.24 seconds, did 19 reps on the bench, and posted a vertical jump of 30 inches to go along with a 9’2″ broad jump. Warren’s pro day short shuttle time was 4.83 seconds, and his three-cone time was 8.09 seconds.
After playing in a total of 35 games during his college career, Warren received an invitation to take part in the annual East-West Shrine Bowl week. It’s worth noting that he only played guard during the actual all-star game and on both sides of the offensive line.
According to Pro Football Focus charting, Warren allowed 13 sacks and 52 total pressures during his college career. He was also reportedly penalized just 10 times.
Outlook: While Warren is certainly an intriguing rookie to watch this summer, he will undoubtedly have a challenging path when it comes to his chances of making the 53-man roster out of the preseason.
Based on his college playing time, Warren seems best suited to play on the left side of the offensive line and potentially at left tackle, his primary position at Lindenwood University. Once training camp gets underway, we should find out quickly if the Steelers view him more as a tackle or a guard.
Being a small school product makes Warren’s college tape hard to judge. Even so, he was invited to participate in the annual East-West Shrine Bowl practices and game this past offseason. Overall, he seemed to represent himself well against better competition.
Hopefully, we will see quite a bit of Warren during the Steelers’ three preseason games. Assuming he stays healthy throughout the summer and represents himself well during the three exhibition contests, Warren might very well be asked to join the Steelers’ practice squad to start the 2025 regular season as a developmental prospect.
RB Jaylen Warren: The Steelers issued Warren a second-round restricted tender during the offseason. Now, the former undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State is scheduled to earn $5.346 million for the 2025 season. The Steelers also decided to let veteran RB Najee Harris leave via free agency during the offseason, and that should obviously result in Warren being the team’s feature running back to start the 2025 regular season.
Last year during the regular season, Warren rushed 120 times for 511 yards and a touchdown in addition to catching 38 passes for 310 yards. He played in 15 regular-season games in 2024 as he missed two contests with a knee injury. In the team’s lone playoff game last season, Warren rushed twice for 6 yards and caught four passes for another 19 yards. Warren also returned nine kickoffs last season for 227 yards, an average of 25.2 yards per attempt.
Altogether, Warren played 447 offensive snaps during the 2024 regular season and 69 more on special teams. He logged 25 offensive snaps in the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season and five others on special teams.
While Warren has been a reasonably good pass protector overall since entering the NFL, he had his ups and downs in that phase of his game during the 2024 season. Warren also only managed to register four explosive plays of 20 yards or longer during the 2024 regular season, and three of those came in the passing game. As a comparison, in 2023, Warren registered eight explosive plays, with six of those coming on running plays.
Outlook: While the Steelers did let Harris leave via free agency during the offseason, the team still went on to select RB Kaleb Johnson in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Iowa. They did so hoping Johnson might eventually become the team’s primary running back. Additionally, the Steelers signed veteran RB Kenneth Gainwell via free agency, and he is likely to have a limited role in the offense in 2025.
Aside from the addition of Johnson and Gainwell this offseason, Warren is still expected to be the Steelers’ primary running back to start the 2025 regular season. While Johnson and Gainwell will certainly receive some playing time in the offense right out of the chute, Warren should trump both of those new Pittsburgh players in playing time and touches as long as he performs well in the top spot on the depth chart.
Warren is an incredibly tough player who gives his all on every play. He is great at gaining yards after contact and is a reliable weapon in the passing game. With veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers now taking over as the starter in Pittsburgh in 2025, Warren’s pass protection must be a lot better than it was in 2024.
The Steelers showed great confidence in Warren during this past offseason by restricted tendering him at a second-round level. He now needs to do his part in 2025 to ensure the offense’s running game takes a huge step forward, especially behind an offensive line that includes many young and drafted players with a pedigree.
How long Warren remains the Steelers’ bell cow running back in 2025 depends totally on how well he performs, especially with the rookie Johnson waiting in the wings.
In closing, it’s plausible that Warren will have a career season in 2025 in terms of total yards from scrimmage, touchdowns, and total touches. The Steelers really need him to exceed 1,000 yards from scrimmage in 2025.
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
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Ben Sauls
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Jack Sawyer, Max Scharping, Trey Sermon
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Isaac Seumalo, Ben Skowronek, Jacob Slade
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Darius Slay, Roc Taylor, DJ Thomas-Jones
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Skylar Thompson, Juan Thornhill, Cory Trice Jr.
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