{"id":188370,"date":"2025-07-07T13:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T13:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/188370\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T13:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T13:32:10","slug":"steelers-most-important-storyline-for-2025-season-isnt-in-the-headlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/188370\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers’ Most Important Storyline For 2025 Season Isn’t In The Headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf are drawing the Steelers\u2019 headlines, a trio of third-year players will define their future. Their top three picks in the 2023 NFL Draft<\/a>, the Steelers are counting on all of them to cement themselves as building blocks this season. Broderick Jones has to be their franchise left tackle, and Joey Porter Jr. their shutdown corner. Keeanu Benton has played well enough, but not \u201cfuture leader of the defensive line\u201d flashes.<\/p>\n

It was largely with these three selections that the Steelers earned tremendous praise for their 2023 NFL Draft class<\/a>. The first under new GM Omar Khan, it showed a more proactive approach. They traded up in the first round for Broderick Jones, and drafted Joey Porter Jr. with a second-round pick they earned via trade.<\/p>\n

But have the Steelers seen franchise-building play from these three? Certainly not up to this point<\/a>, and especially from Jones. This year, they have moved him to left tackle, where they have always intended for him to play. Still young, he has the talent, but he needs to take his game to an entirely new level. Because short of flipping Troy Fautanu over to left tackle, they have no other options, and that creates another hole.<\/p>\n

The story is similar for the Steelers\u2019 aggressive-in-its-way decision to turn down lucrative trade offers<\/a> and sit with the top pick in the second round to take Porter. The son of Joey Porter Sr., the Steelers viewed him as their next Ike Taylor, or better. Although you can put together a solid highlight reel, it would only include two interceptions. And the lowlight reel would be full of penalties he knows he has to work on<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To that end, the Steelers have made one change: They have switched out their defensive backs coach. They did not rehire Grady Brown, instead hiring Gerald Alexander. Alexander worked with Joey Porter here during his rookie season but is now in charge of the room.<\/p>\n

Then there is Keeanu Benton, who is not yet quite the second coming of Javon Hargrave<\/a>. He is, again, a young Steelers player in whom you see the talent, but not the consistency or production. Last season, he put up nearly identical numbers as he did from his rookie year, though he added an interception and batted more passes, but caused no fumbles.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Steelers made big, splashy moves this offseason, none bigger than trading for DK Metcalf. And at least in Metcalf\u2019s case, that is a long-term investment, without ambiguity. But championship teams are primarily built from within, and from strong draft classes.<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 draft class of 2023 was meant to be a pivotal, potentially era-defining one. A franchise left tackle, a shutdown cornerback, and a stud in the middle of the defensive line. Barring a quarterback, you can hardly find more crucial building blocks to start assembling. But do the Steelers have the right pieces installed in these places<\/a>? That\u2019s one of the most important things they have to find out in 2026, regardless of what the headlines say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf are drawing the Steelers\u2019 headlines, a trio of third-year players will define…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[465,7,7582,1500,6,57,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-188370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-broderick-jones","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-joey-porter-jr","11":"tag-keeanu-benton","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114812206984332081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}