Five Under the Radar Steelers I'm Excited To See

 The NFL preseason always sneaks up on me. I was flipping through sports channels last week and I came across the Steelers Jaguars preseason game, which got me excited! I half paid attention to the first half of the game, knowing that you can't take anything too seriously in preseason, but it did get me thinking, there's a lot of guys that I'm excited to see for the first time on the Steelers this year and a lot of guys I'm excited to see in a bigger role this year. With about 3 weeks to the season, lets name some guys and talk about them. 

Roman Wilson - WR

This was the first name that popped up in my head when I started this exercise. The Steelers selected Roman Wilson in the 3rd round of the draft last year, and he had a season from hell. He got hurt in training camp then got injured again, I believe in practice, immediately after recovering. Because of that, this is essentially his rookie season. The Steelers swung a big trade for DK Metcalf to be their WR1, as elite an option as you can get there. We all thought the WR2 would be George Pickens but he was promptly traded to the Cowboys leaving a void at WR2 similar to last season. Although they're both talented, Pickens and Metcalf would've overlapped in skillset. They're both best on the outside using their size and physicality to make contested catches. Roman Wilson projects to be more of a slot receiver who uses speed and shiftiness up the middle of the field. I don't want to overreact to 1 preseason game, but he did look really solid in that one playing in the slot. Wilson is 24, I've seen people on Reddit claim that Rodgers has a hard time trusting young and unproven WRs which definitely could play into his season. There aren't a ton of great options at WR2 though and I'm excited to see if Roman Wilson can grab the opportunity.

Nick Herbig - OLB

Ready for some propaganda? The Steelers are undoubtably stacked at OLB. They have maybe the best pass rusher in the world in TJ Watt and on the other side is Alex Highsmith, a star in his own right. This leaves Nick Herbig as the odd man out on a bunch of snaps, but I'm here to tell you that I think this is a sleeping giant as a pass rusher. Last season in 938 snaps TJ Watt recorded 11.5 sacks. In 415 snaps, Herbig recorded 5.5 sacks. That's 1.23% of snaps for TJ and 1.33% for Herbig. I told you there would be propaganda! What's really crazy is in my research for this I found in TJ's DPOY season he recorded 22.5 sacks in 758 snaps, which is an insane 3% clip lol. In seriousness though, I think Herbig is a really good pass rusher and every time he gets a chance he shows it. He does have limitations in the run game which keeps Highsmith ahead of him on the depth chart, but if there's ever an injury I feel really comfortable with Herbig stepping in. He only turns 24 this season and has had a ton of time learning behind TJ and Highsmith, I can see this being a breakout year for Herbig this season. Watch out opposing QBs. 

Darnell Washington - TE

This is another one that I think goes under the radar just because he's seemingly buried on the depth chart. The Steelers already had a solid TE in Pat Freiermuth, then they got Jonnu Smith from the Dolphins along with Jalen Ramsey in the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade. That leaves Darnell Washington as the clear TE3 to start the season. I like Washington though, the Steelers took him in the 3rd round in 2023. He's a classic big TE standing at 6'7 264lbs. He's not a particularly fast runner, but he's a massive human being making him a big target in the red zone. The Steelers have mostly used him as a blocker in the run game for his first 2 seasons, but they started to pass to him a bit more by the end of last season. I actually think he has really good hands, and in the redzone he's a matchup nightmare with basically no defensive player able to match his reach. He caught a TD in the first preseason game on a redzone pass then was promptly penalized for dunking the ball through the field goal uprights. I think this is a guy who can surprise some people and I wouldn't be shocked if he came away this season with 5 or more TDs, hopefully he gets the opportunity. 

Beanie Bishop - CB

I pretty much keep picking guys at positions the team is stacked at, other than Roman Wilson who can hopefully just fill a void. Beanie Bishop was an undrafted free agent last season, but I came away pretty impressed with him every time he saw the field. He's undersized, just 5'9 and 180lbs, but I think he has a nose for the ball and always seems to be in the right spot on the field. Bishop is going to probably get most of his work in the slot as a nickel back with Darius Slay and Joey Porter Jr roaming the outside, 2 super elite options. Jalen Ramsey figures to start in the slot, but I think Bishop is going to get his snaps and I think he's going to do really well there! The Steelers secondary, while good, does lack speed and that's something Bishop can provide. Last season in limited snaps Bishop came away with 4 interceptions, I think his opportunities will be limited to start this season, but if he shows the same gusto he did last year those chances will grow for sure. 

Jaylen Warren - RB

Maybe Jaylen Warren isn't under the radar, he is the Steelers RB1 after all. I just wanted an excuse to talk about him if I'm being honest. For Warren's entire tenure with the Steelers I have been advocating to give him more snaps than Najee Harris. He's a faster runner, has almost as much power and is solid in the pass blocking game. He has this quality to him where he runs like it's his last carry in the NFL, which you love to see in an RB. Now that Najee is gone, I expect Warren to get ~75% of the snaps at running back which really excites me for next season. He has had some injury issues in the past and that really did limit him last season, so there is risk with giving him more snaps for sure. I think though with an expanded opportunity we're going to see a really good season from Jaylen Warren. I'm calling it right now, Warren will have 1200 rushing yards this year, mark my words! 

That's that! I can't wait for the season to start again. I got into a real flow with Steelers reactions on Monday and NFL reactions on Tuesday, makes life so easy. Go Steelers!