When Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and longtime special teams coordinator Danny Smith followed him out the door heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it was very clear things were going to be different on special teams moving forward.

Now, after the first wave of free agency, things are looking really thin on special teams for the Steelers under first-year coordinator Danny Crossman, thanks to the number of players who have left the organization.

Names like James Pierre, Connor Heyward, Miles Killebrew, Corliss Waitman and Calvin Austin III are all relatively large departures from a special teams perspective. Some can scoff at those names being included, but let’s take a look at the number of special teams snaps that have departed with just Pierre, Heyward, Killebrew and Austin.

Total special teams snaps lost from 2025 season, according to Pro Football Focus:

James Pierre — 170 special teams snaps 
Connor Heyward — 306 special teams snaps 
Corliss Waitman — 141 special teams snaps
Miles Killebrew — 80 special teams snaps 
Calvin Austin III — 31 special teams snaps 

Not to mention, the Steelers also lost the 144 special teams snaps provided by Kenneth Gainwell, and Jabrill Peppers hasn’t been re-signed either. He played 206 snaps on special teams and filled in admirably for Killebrew after he was lost for the season with a torn ACL, serving as the personal protector on punts.

So, of those handful of names mentioned, that’s more than 1,000 special teams snaps the Steelers have lost from last season.

That’s quite a bit to replace.

Calvin Austin III was the punt returner for the Steelers, and there’s no clear replacement on the roster at the moment, considering Scotty Miller isn’t re-signed. There’s a real hole there for Crossman to have to plug this offseason. The 2026 NFL Draft offers an intriguing avenue to replace Austin with a name like Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen. 

Kicker Chris Boswell will have to work with a new holder for the first time in two seasons after Corliss Waitman signed with the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday. Granted, the Steelers signed Cameron Johnston to a one-year deal, and he worked with Boswell leading up to the 2024 season and was his holder in the season opener before being lost for the year due to injury. Johnston then returned last summer and battled with Waitman in training camp before Waitman won the job, so there is some familiarity between Boswell and Johnston.

But Boswell has attempted just five field goals with Johnston as the holder.

Pierre was a high-end gunner and formed a formidable duo with Ben Skowronek on punts, so he’ll need to be replaced in his role. Heyward was a Swiss Army knife and played in all special teams situations. He was a true football player in that sense and was quite valuable, but now he’s out the door.

Killebrew served as the Steelers’ special teams captain for four years, and while Payton Wilson stepped up and replaced Killebrew as the special teams captain last year after he tore his ACL, that’s still a big presence to replace.

The Steelers have their work cut out for them. In recent years under Danny Smith, Pittsburgh’s special teams were solid. There wasn’t much in the return game in recent years, but they knew how to scheme up pressure to block punts, tackled well on kick and punt coverage, and avoided any of the big mistakes that can swing games on special teams.

Losing so many experienced pieces in the same offseason that they are turning things over on the coaching staff is a tough blow. We’ll see how the Steelers round out the bottom of the roster on special teams. New faces will have to emerge alongside the likes of returning stalwarts in Wilson, Carson Bruener, Jack Sawyer and more.

Right now, though, special teams is a glaring weakness that seems to be glossed over — for the moment.