{"id":288855,"date":"2025-08-15T01:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T01:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/288855\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T01:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T01:18:10","slug":"steelers-starters-not-sweating-lack-of-preseason-reps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/288855\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Starters Not Sweating Lack of Preseason Reps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen during an OTAs practice on May 27, 2025. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin revealed on Thursday that he expects participation for the Steelers\u2019 second preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be similar to last week. <\/p>\n

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, wide receiver DK Metcalf, running back Jaylen Warren, left guard Isaac Seumalo, tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith, outside linebacker T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, defensive tackle Cam Heyward, linebacker Patrick Queen, cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay and Joey Porter Jr. and strong safety. DeShon Elliott. Tomlin said outside linebacker Nick Herbig could receive playing time depending on his work in the joint practice on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Tomlin said he hasn\u2019t ruled anyone that\u2019s injured out at this point. \u201cWe\u2019ll make those decisions at the 11th hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen doesn\u2019t mind sitting out on Saturday night. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care. If they tell me to play, I\u2019ll play. If not, I\u2019m definitely not tripping,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth is also not worried about not being prepared for the New York Jets in Week 1, especially after their joint practice with the Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are practicing against (Tampa\u2019s) ones. We have a lot of reps versus our ones, and we have probably the best defense in the NFL. It\u2019s obviously very valuable, and we\u2019re looking forward to continuing to work,\u201d Freiermuth said when asked how the offense can simulate a live game experience without playing in the preseason. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trusting Coach [Tomlin]. He has a plan. Always going to listen to Coach T and he knows what\u2019s best. He always has and always will. We\u2019re excited to go with the plan that he has. I think people are just looking too much into if we\u2019re playing or not. We\u2019ll be fine.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tomlin revealed in an interview with the team\u2019s website last Saturday that Rodgers might not play at all this preseason. Asked about coaches that don\u2019t play their quarterbacks in the preseason, Tomlin said, \u201cyou might be looking at one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy has been doing this for 21 years,\u201d Tomlin said<\/a>. \u201cHis cumulative snap total and what\u2019s required for him to be ready is different than others. And so if I\u2019m not adaptable and open to adjustments relative to the needs of our guys, then I\u2019m not doing my job. And so you might be looking at one of those coaches in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not willing to commit to plan of action for the third week of the preseason just yet, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I will deal with next week next week. Nice try,\u201d Tomlin said when asked if Rodgers will play in the preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Pat Freiermuth<\/a> Patrick Queen<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen during an OTAs practice on May 27, 2025. — Ed Thompson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,9073,7584,520,57,2360,426,2395,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-288855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pat-freiermuth","11":"tag-patrick-queen","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-steelers-news","17":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115030150964072210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288855","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=288855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}