In the blink of an eye, we\u2019ve gone from the NFL Draft, OTAs and minicamp to the brink of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.<\/p>\n
An exciting year lies ahead for the Black and Gold after a busy offseason of change with a new head coach, a nearly entirely new coaching staff, and more than 30 new players joining the roster.<\/p>\n
But before things gets underway in Latrobe, it\u2019s time to wrap up the 2026 offseason with the Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters series. Today, we\u2019ll close it with No. 3-1.<\/p>\n
If you missed the first seven parts you can view No. 24-22 to No. 6-4 below.<\/p>\n
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 24-22<\/a> Here is my projected Steelers starting lineup, kicker and punter included, for the regular-season opener against the Atlanta Falcons.<\/p>\n *Italics indicate the player has been covered in the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n OFFENSE<\/p>\n QB \u2014 Aaron Rodgers\u00a0 DEFENSE<\/p>\n DE \u2014 Cameron Heyward\u00a0 SPECIAL TEAMS<\/p>\n K \u2014 Chris Boswell Here\u2019s how the Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters series looks so far.<\/p>\n No. 24 \u2014 Cameron Johnston, P Without further ado, let\u2019s dive into the top three and close out the series here at Steelers Depot.<\/p>\n No. 3 \u2014 CHRIS BOSWELL, K<\/p>\n Though his field goal percentage dipped from nearly 94 to 84.4 last season, Chris Boswell remains one of the best \u2014 if not the best \u2014 kickers in football. Boswell drilled 27-of-32 field goals last season, continuing to prove he\u2019s as dependable as they come in the NFL.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n While he missed a key extra point in the Week 18 finale against the Baltimore Ravens that kept the door open late in the game, it\u2019s hard to find any real knocks against Boswell at this point in his career. He\u2019s gone from a late signing due to injury in 2015 to the top of the rankings among kickers.<\/p>\n Boswell is also armed with a new contract extension signed this offseason, tying him for the highest-paid kicker in football. He\u2019s earned every penny of it. New special teams coordinator Danny Crossman can rest easy knowing he has a star at kicker who converts at a high rate.<\/p>\n No. 2 \u2014 ZACH FRAZIER, C<\/p>\n Zach Frazier is quietly working his way into the discussion of the best centers in football.<\/p>\n The former second-round pick is a stalwart along the Steelers\u2019 offensive line. For the second straight year, Frazier played more than 1,000 snaps, and he continued to find his voice and grow into a leadership role. Frazier played 1,085 snaps in 2025 and finished with an overall grade of 73.8 from Pro Football Focus.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n He allowed just 11 pressures and one sack, was called for four penalties, and was a terrific communicator in the trenches. He earned high praise from quarterback Aaron Rodgers after the season<\/a>, too, as the arrow continues to point straight up.<\/p>\n Now, with a pair of new offensive line coaches in James Campen and Jahri Evans in the fold, the expectation is Frazier takes another significant step forward, especially with all the moving parts around him. He\u2019s currently the only projected starter remaining in his spot from last season, so a lot will rest on his shoulders.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s very clearly on his way to becoming the next great Steelers center and should put himself in the discussion of best center in football this season, too.<\/p>\n No. 1 \u2014 CAMERON HEYWARD, DE<\/p>\n There will be no snubbing Cameron Heyward on this list, unlike what occurred from ESPN<\/a> a few days ago.<\/p>\n Fresh off yet another All-Pro season, Heyward remains the cream of the crop. Despite his sack production dropping to 3.5 from 8.0 in 2024, Heyward remained a true force last season. He generated 50 QB pressures, added another 42 run stops, and was Pro Football Focus\u2019 highest-graded NFL defensive lineman<\/a>, finishing ahead of the second-highest graded player by nearly two full points.<\/p>\n Yes, he\u2019s getting up there in age, and Father Time is inevitable, but Heyward, 37, is winning that fight in a landslide and shows no signs of slowing down. He enters the 2026 season with a new contract extension, has an improved defensive line room around him, and will be counted on to lead once again, this time under a new defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n Doubt Heyward out at your own peril.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the blink of an eye, we\u2019ve gone from the NFL Draft, OTAs and minicamp to the brink…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4034,6204,7,6,57,691,11462],"class_list":["post-943011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-cameron-heyward","tag-chris-boswell","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-trending","tag-zach-frazier"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116903632170013401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943011","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=943011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 21-19<\/a>
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 18-16<\/a>
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 15-13<\/a>
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 12-10\u00a0<\/a>
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 9-7<\/a>
Ranking The Steelers\u2019 Starters: No. 6-4<\/a><\/p>\n
RB \u2014 Jaylen Warren\u00a0
WR \u2014 DK Metcalf\u00a0
WR \u2014 Michael Pittman Jr.\u00a0
WR \u2014 Germie Bernard
TE \u2014 Darnell Washington\u00a0
LT \u2014 Troy Fautanu\u00a0
LG \u2014 Mason McCormick\u00a0
C \u2014 Zach Frazier
RG \u2014 Spencer Anderson\u00a0
RT \u2014 Dylan Cook<\/p>\n
NT \u2014 Keeanu Benton\u00a0
DE \u2014 Derrick Harmon\u00a0
OLB \u2014 Alex Highsmith\u00a0
ILB \u2014 Patrick Queen
ILB \u2014 Payton Wilson\u00a0
OLB \u2014 T.J. Watt
CB \u2014 Jamel Dean
CB \u2014 Joey Porter Jr.\u00a0
S \u2014 Jalen Ramsey
S \u2014 DeShon Elliott<\/p>\n
P \u2014 Cameron Johnston\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 23 \u2014 Germie Bernard, WR\u00a0
No. 22 \u2014 Spencer Anderson, RG
No. 21 \u2014 Dylan Cook, RT
No. 20 \u2014 Keeanu Benton, NT\u00a0
No. 19 \u2014 Payton Wilson, ILB\u00a0
No. 18 \u2014 Patrick Queen, ILB
No. 17 \u2014 Jaylen Warren, RB\u00a0
No. 16 \u2014 Darnell Washington, TE\u00a0
No. 15 \u2014 Aaron Rodgers, QB
No. 14 \u2014 Mason McCormick, LG\u00a0
No. 13 \u2014 Derrick Harmon, DE\u00a0
No. 12 \u2014 Jalen Ramsey, S\u00a0
No. 11 \u2014 Michael Pittman Jr., WR\u00a0
No. 10 \u2014 DeShon Elliott, S\u00a0
No. 9 \u2014 DK Metcalf, WR
No. 8 \u2014 Jamel Dean, CB
No. 7 \u2014 Troy Fautanu, LT\u00a0
No. 6 \u2014 Alex Highsmith, OLB
No. 5 \u2014 Joey Porter Jr., CB
No. 4 \u2014 T.J. Watt, OLB<\/p>\n