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 Lance McCutcheon, Kyler McMichael, and DK Metcalf.
WR Lance McCutcheon: The Steelers signed McCutcheon to a Reserve/Future contract in January, and that transaction came on the heels of the wide receiver spending several weeks, roughly a month, on the team’s practice squad in 2024.
Originally signed by the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 as an undrafted free agent out of Montana State, McCutcheon spent his rookie season on their 53-man roster. He played in 10 games with the Rams in 2022 and started once that season. He totaled just 56 offensive snaps with the Rams in 2022 and 110 more on special teams on his way to registering no catches on five targets. However, he also logged two total tackles that season on special teams.
Since his 2022 season with the Rams, McCutcheon has been on the practice squads of the Houston Texans, New York Jets, and Steelers.
For his college career, McCutcheon registered 92 receptions for 1,643 yards and 12 touchdowns in 51 games and over four seasons. During his 2022 pre-draft process, McCutcheon measured in at
6021, 207-pounds with 9 1/4-inch hands and 32 3/8-inch arms. He ran his pro day 40-yard dash in 4.57 seconds, posted a vertical jump of 36.5 inches, and a broad jump of 10’2″. His pro day short-shuttle time was 4.25 seconds, and his three-cone time was 6.82 seconds.
Outlook: Ahead of training camp getting underway this summer, McCutcheon seems poised to compete for a practice squad spot, as he probably is not a legitimate candidate to make the 53-man roster. 2022 was the last time McCutcheon saw time in an NFL game, and that’s obviously not a great sign for him. The same goes for him still being without an NFL reception despite playing in 10 NFL games.
While McCutcheon does have some special-teams experience, he doesn’t appear to be a huge asset in that phase of his game. He’ll need to improve on that narrative during training camp and the preseason throughout the summer.
Overall, McCutcheon needs to stay healthy throughout the summer, as the smallest injury could result in him losing his spot on the 91-man roster. At best, he will put himself in a position to make the practice squad for the start of the 2025 regular season. That’s going to be a challenging goal for him to accomplish, albeit not an impossible one.
CB Kyler McMichael: The Steelers signed McMichael to a Reserve/Future contract in January. That transaction came after he closed out the 2024 offseason on the team’s roster after being signed late last July, and after training camp got underway. Last year during the preseason, McMichael did play 50 snaps in the three exhibition contests, with 34 of those coming on defense. In those three preseason games, he registered five total tackles and one pass defensed.
McMichael entered the NFL originally with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2022 out of North Carolina. He has since spent time on the Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals, and Steelers rosters. McMichael has yet to see any action in an NFL regular-season game.
During his college career, which started at Clemson in 2018, McMichael registered 46 total tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, and seven passes defensed in 33 games played. He was mainly used as an outside cornerback and occasionally on special teams.
During the 2022 pre-draft process, McMichael measured in at 6001, 201-pounds with 9 1/4-inch hands and 31-inch arms. He ran his pro day 40-yard dash in 4.49 seconds, his short shuttle in 4.37 seconds, and posted a broad jump of 9’6″. He also recorded a pro day vertical jump of 32 inches and did 14 reps on the bench.
Outlook: Despite playing in all three preseason games for the Steelers in 2024, McMichael still failed to make the team’s practice squad at any point during the regular season. In fact, McMichael failed to be a member of any NFL practice squad in 2024, and that’s not a great sign for him overall.
With the Steelers having a very full cornerback room this offseason, McMichael will do well to stay on the offseason roster throughout training camp and the preseason. He really doesn’t have a legitimate shot at making the 53-man roster, so the best he can hope for is landing on the practice squad after the summer smoke clears.
McMichael should see some late-game action during the preseason, much like in 2024, assuming he stays on the roster. Outside of looking forward to that happening, McMichael’s future seems very questionable once September arrives.
WR DK Metcalf: The Steelers traded a 2025 second-round draft pick this offseason to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for Metcalf. If that move wasn’t surprising enough, the team then gave Metcalf a new contract that has now resulted in him being the fourth-highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. On the heels of trading for Metcalf, the Steelers then traded WR George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.
Metcalf, who the Seahawks originally selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Mississippi, registered 66 receptions for 992 yards and five touchdowns on 108 total targets. He played in 15 games in 2024 as he missed two contests due to a knee injury. All told, Metcalf logged 832 offensive snaps in 2024 with the Seahawks.
In his six NFL seasons, Metcalf has totaled 438 receptions for 6,324 yards and 48 touchdowns. He has also registered 91 receptions that gained 20 or more yards over the course of his first six NFL seasons. Twenty of those came in 2024, by the way.
Metcalf has never registered less than 900 yards in a single NFL season to date, and he’s never logged fewer than 100 total targets in regular season play as well. Metcalf’s 438 total receptions in the NFL rank him 16th overall since his 2019 rookie season. His 6324 receiving yards rank him 12th overall in the NFL since 2019, while his 48 touchdown receptions have him tied for 5th overall during that span of six seasons.
Outlook: Metcalf is obviously the Steelers’ new workhorse wide receiver for the near future, and the team figures to rely heavily on him in the passing game right out of the chute in 2025. Anything less than 900 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions for Metcalf in 2025 will be a huge disappointment.
Metcalf figures to be used by Steelers OC Arthur Smith in a similar fashion to how WR A.J. Brown was used when he was with Smith and the Tennessee Titans several seasons ago. The Steelers will certainly need Metcalf to continue his explosive play production moving forward, and the goal for him in 2025 should be at least 20 of those, matching his 2024 output.
The Steelers now have a new veteran quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, and hopefully, he can get in sync with Metcalf quickly. Metcalf is really great after the catch, so lots of YAC should be expected in 2025. It would be nice to see Metcalf receive his fair share of slant targets in 2025, something the Steelers’ offense has been lacking for the last several seasons.
Assuming the Steelers stand pat with their wide receiver and tight end rooms the remainder of the offseason, Metcalf can expect to garner a lot of coverage attention during the 2025 season, much like was the case last season with Pickens.
The Steelers offense will obviously look to run the football better in 2025, and that will be one key to the unit’s overall success for the season. Even so, the Steelers’ offense needs Metcalf to produce exactly how he has produced on average over the course of his first six NFL seasons in 2025. It will be interesting to see if Metcalf can produce a usual Metcalf season in 2025 without having a top-notch counterpart in Pittsburgh like he had several seasons with the Seahawks.
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
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