The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-25 in both teams’ preseason opener on Saturday. As always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had:

1. Most importantly, don’t forget it’s the preseason

The preseason is not serious football.

I’ve written this column for a few years now, and this is always my first takeaway of the year. It’s a necessary caveat for the rest of the article, as well as discourse on this website for the next few weeks.

Teams don’t gameplan in the preseason like they would for a regular game. Starters don’t play much, if at all. And we’ve seen plenty of preseason heroes fall well short of expectations when the games that matter finally start.

Never forget Kenny Pickett and George Pickens looking like the next great quarterback/receiver combination in the summer of 2023.

Does the preseason still matter? Well, yeah. But probably not as much as our football-starved minds want it to.

2. The Steelers quarterback depth looks good

Combined, Steelers quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson put together a stat line of 29/38 for 317 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Rudolph went an impressive 9/10 with a touchdown, managing to produce with the Steelers’ backup skill position players against the Jaguars’ starting defense. Thompson led the offense from the Pittsburgh 26-yard line to the end zone in the final two minutes of the first half en route to a three-touchdown day.

Outside of a coverage sack when Rudolph held onto the ball for a laughably long time, both passers looked sharp, with a nice mix of deep and intermediate play-action shots to supplement the short game.

Of course, the Steelers’ offensive success in 2025 is far more dependent on the play of Aaron Rodgers in the regular season. But Pittsburgh’s quarterback depth had about as good of a preseason showing as it gets on Saturday, even with fan-favorite Will Howard sidelined with an injury.

3. Undrafted wide receivers shine

The Steelers will probably only keep five wide receivers in 2025, but the battle for that fifth roster spot should be a fun watch over the summer. Speedster Scotty Miller logged four catches for 47 yards against the Jaguars in a nice showing while veteran Robert Woods ran with the ones with D.K. Metcalf and Calvin Austin III out for the game.

But it was a trio of undrafted rookies who looked the best on Saturday night.

Steelers camp darling Roc Taylor hauled in two catches for 38 yards, capitalizing on the in-breakers he’s reportedly excelled in during practice.

Max Hurleman didn’t have quite the same following entering Saturday’s game, but burst onto the scene with two catches for 29 yards and a touchdown.

A college special-teamer and jack of all trades who was listed as everything from running back to cornerback to receiver entering the NFL, Hurleman looked the part at wideout. He logged a tough, contested grab down the seam before turning a quick out into a score (and a celebratory back flip) on the very next play. His special teams versatility should be something to watch this summer as well.

But the real standout was Indiana product Ke’Shawn Williams, who led the team with 55 receiving yards and one touchdown on two receptions. His highlight of the night was the score, of course: a contested grab on a deep ball from Skylar Thompson.

But he also looked slippery in the yards after catch on his other catch of the day, as well as his reps as the starting punt returner in Austin’s absence.

Williams wasn’t heavily-used in his college offense, but the tape he put out was good. If you didn’t know the name already, he’s a name to watch this summer.

Will any of the star UDFAs make the final roster? The veteran experience of Miller and Woods remains quite the obstacle. And the Steelers probably won’t be using their WR5 much on offense anyway.

But the team does seem to have found some gems in their 2025 UDFA class, and at the very least…

Slaps roof of practice squad — “This bad boy can fit so many intriguing wide receivers.”

4. “It’s good to be back” – Cole Holcomb (probably)

The last time Cole Holcomb was playing on an NFL field was Week 9 of the 2023 season, when he suffered a gruesome knee injury against the Titans that kept him sidelined for all of 2024.

Now back in playing shape, Holcomb has dropped from his status as the Steelers’ top linebacker to a potential roster bubble candidate. After the injury and recovery, there was no guarantee he’d look anything like the player he used to be.

From just a handful of snaps on Saturday, it’s hard to judge just how good Holcomb looks relative to his old self, but he did record a nice third-down stop in coverage. Despite lining up in the A-gap, he caught up to a running back in the flat and forced an incompletion. (He would’ve tackled the play short of the first down anyway).

Holcomb still looked like he was getting his sea legs back, especially when taking on blocks, but that’s understandable given it was his first NFL action in well over a year. It’s a testament to his work ethic that he was even back on the field in the first place, and he still made some plays.

5. Brandin Echols is the top backup cornerback

The Steelers’ signing of cornerback Brandin Echols was under the radar during free agency, and his name dropped out of the news even more when Pittsburgh traded for former All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey.

But Echols has recently drawn rave reviews in camp, and even before then he was one of my favorite names in the team’s free agent class. With inside/outside versatility, good agility in coverage, and a downhill mentality as a tackler, he’s the sort of “next man up” you want on the depth chart.

Steelers starting cornerbacks Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Joey Porter Jr. didn’t play on Saturday, opening up plenty of snaps for their backups against the Jaguars. And in a game where James Pierre gave up a touchdown and Beanie Bishop Jr. had a few rough coverage reps saved by brutal underthrows, Echols looked like the best of the bunch.

He brought the hammer on a first-quarter tackle for loss in the flat, and later perfectly read a route concept with a leaping pass breakup.

I’m sure he had plenty of watchers Googling “Who is No. 26?” Saturday night, which is the sign of a good preseason performance.

6. And the closest camp battle is…

Punter! In fact, you could argue this was the Steelers’ position group that performed the best from top to bottom against the Jaguars.

Back from a season-ending injury in Week 1 of 2024, Cameron Johnston proved he still has plenty of leg strength, logging two punts for 94 yards with a long of 52.

Corliss Waitman, who replaced Johnston post-injury last season, had been written out of the competition by some. But he outperformed the presumed starter with his one punt on Saturday, a gorgeous 57-yarder with excellent hang time.

“It’s highly competitive,” Tomlin said earlier this week of the position battle per Steelers.com. “They’re both varsity, but that’s the type of competition that you want.”

After Saturday’s showing, Tomlin couldn’t have been more correct. Having two varsity punters is a good problem to have.

7. Kaleb Johnson looks like we expected

And no, this isn’t anointing him the next Le’Veon Bell or even the Week 1 starter. Rather, Johnson looked exactly like the Iowa version of himself playing in his first career NFL game: a lot of promise, but there’s still plenty of room for growth.

Notably, Johnson had an ugly drop on the first pass thrown his way. He wasn’t a heavily-used receiver in college, and his value in the passing game was perhaps the biggest question mark on his draft profile. But Johnson caught the next, turning it into a six-yard gain.

But what impressed me the most was how fast and fluid Johnson looked. There’s always the question of how bigger college running backs will look against the quickness of NFL defenses, and Johnson still showed off the wiggle to turn the corner on runs and maneuver behind the line of scrimmage. That sneaky-good speed and smooth athleticism we saw in his college tape is absolutely there.

Sure, his eight carries for just 20 yards don’t scream upside, but the run-blocking in front of him was subpar for most of the night. And Johnson still found the way to move the pile on a few runs that looked doomed to fail. It was a quiet debut for the rookie, but there was still plenty to get excited about.

8. The good and bad of the Steelers’ O-line

There’s been plenty of worrying about the Pittsburgh offensive line entering this season. Much of it for good reason.

And while Saturday’s performance didn’t suddenly prove that the Steelers have a top-10 line in the league, it was an impressive outing for a much-criticized unit — at least, in the passing game.

Pittsburgh gave up just two sacks against the Jaguars, and as previously mentioned, one was largely on Mason Rudolph. The blame for the second fell on newly-signed right tackle Andrus Peat with the second-team offense.

For the vast majority of plays in the Steelers’ efficient passing game Saturday night, the quarterbacks were able to dissect the Jacksonville defense from the safety of a clean pocket.

With such a small sample size — and against just one defense — it’s far too early to call the Steelers’ pass-protecting woes cured. But it was an undeniably promising performance. At the end of the day, the team’s Aaron Rodgers gamble won’t come close to working this year if the 41-year-old is running for his life after every snap.

Saturday’s game was a good start to 2025’s Keep Aaron Alive plan.

The run game was a different story. Pittsburgh was horribly inefficient on the ground last year and it was largely the same in Week 1 of the preseason. As a team, Pittsburgh logged an uninspiring 66 yards on 25 carries — 2.64 yards per carry! (That sound you heard was a preseason Arthur Smith surrender cobra).

But considering the low expectations entering the game, having some real highlights to go along with the expected things to work on is absolutely a step in the right direction.

I don’t care that it was the Steelers’ opponent (The game didn’t count, OK?), Cameron Little’s 70-yard field goal has been the highlight of the entire NFL preseason so far. While it won’t count for the official records, it beat the NFL record by four yards.The “Use Darnell Washington in the passing game more” club got another strong piece of evidence for the cause thanks to the 6’7 tight end’s touchdown catch to put the Steelers on the board in the first quarter. He read your left tackle jokes. He rejects the premise.As of writing this, I’m still waiting on the Steelers’ preseason All-22 to drop, and I’m tired of sifting through the laggy game replay. But based on the few plays I have rewatched and what I saw in-game, I think Derrick Harmon had a solid showing in his debut despite Pittsburgh’s quiet pass-rush numbers.You definitely knew Lew Nichols was on the Steelers roster before Saturday, right? He had a great showing as the Steelers’ most productive runner: six carries for 31 yards. He’s name to watch for practice squad candidacy. (Trey Sermon looked solid, too).Payton Wilson might have a future in professional wrestling after his football career.It’s not surprising, but it looks like DeMarvin Leal is a near-full-time outside linebacker now. He unfortunately didn’t make much of an impact as a rusher against the Jaguars, but last preseason he impressed in a similar role pre-injury.Nothing is decided yet regarding Roman Wilson’s role in the Steelers’ offense this season, but his two catches in the opening drive, including a 19-yard middle of the field grab on the team’s first offensive play, were about as good an endorsement as you could hope for.The Steelers’ passing game was defined by play action on Saturday. Pittsburgh had the eighth-most play action pass attempts in 2024, and I’d expect that to stay a big part of the offense this season.Pittsburgh saw a lot of success on deep crossers, while Skylar Thompson repeatedly found chunk gains down the seam. These were not as present in the Steeler offense last year, but could be more prevalent in 2025, especially with Aaron Rodgers leading the offense over Russell Wilson.Zach Frazier’s reported camp struggles with snaps seemingly possessed Max Scharping in the preseason. But with Steelers second-team center Ryan McCollum missing the Jaguars game with injury. I wouldn’t get too worried.The Jaguars defensive coordinator looks like Nate Bargatze.

It was a solid start to the preseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have a week to prepare for their preseason home opener, Aug. 16, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Jaguars? Agree/disagree with the ones above? Join the Behind the Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!