The Steelers don’t have a cute little camp this year
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the Steelers’ roster bubble in 2026 isn’t some fake August drama with a bunch of camp bodies fighting for crumbs. There are real jobs on the line, especially at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and along the offensive line. Pittsburgh’s 90-man roster already has a bunch of names that look pretty locked in, but the final 53 is where the meat gets carved up. Steelers Depot’s June roster work put the team’s bubble count at 21 players, up from 18 the year before, which tells you this isn’t a roster with a ton of dead weight at the bottom[6].
The biggest thing to remember is simple: the top end is set, and that makes every fringe spot matter more. Aaron Rodgers is in, Drew Allar is in, Jaylen Warren is in, Rico Dowdle is in, DK Metcalf is in, Michael Pittman Jr. is in, Pat Freiermuth is in, Darnell Washington is in, and the core of the roster is pretty much spoken for[6]. That means the fight is over the last few chairs when the music stops.
Quarterback is the headline, and Will Howard is the name I’m watching
If you want the cleanest real battle on this roster, it’s quarterback. Steelers Depot pegged Will Howard as a bubble player with a 66 percent shot at making the team, and the same group flat-out said the Steelers want Howard to win the QB2 job[5][2]. That’s the part that matters. If the team wants him, that matters more than some preseason box score from a guy with a clipboard and a hungry agent.
Mason Rudolph is the obvious counterargument. He’s the veteran, he knows the building, and he’s the sort of guy coaches trust not to melt down in a bad quarter. But this is exactly why I think Howard gets the nod. Pittsburgh already has Rodgers at the top and Allar as the future project, so carrying Rudolph only makes sense if Howard falls on his face[2][6]. I don’t think that happens.
My cut: Rodgers, Allar, Howard in. Rudolph out.
That may sound cold, but camp isn’t a retirement party. If Howard shows even decent command, the Steelers aren’t going to stash a younger, cheaper, more intriguing backup behind Rodgers just to keep a familiar face around.
Running back is messy, and Kaleb Johnson is the first real test
This is where people get too cute. Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle are the only backs who feel safe at this point[6][8]. After that, the room gets crowded fast. SI’s camp rundown listed Kaleb Johnson, Eli Heidenreich, Travis Homer, and Lew Nichols as the bubble group, while another projection had Dowdle, Warren, Heidenreich, and Homer making the cut[8][2]. That’s a decent clue that the Steelers themselves still haven’t settled on how much depth they want at the position.
Here’s what gets me: Johnson is the name everybody wants to treat like a lock because he sounds like a draft pick or a future piece. But if he can’t beat out the utility guys and special teams types, then he’s not helping this roster right now. Homer has a real path because teams always value the guy who can cover kicks, catch a pass, and not panic when the third drive of a preseason game turns into a mess. Heidenreich is in the mix because he gives you weird versatility, which coaches love more than fans do.
My cut: Warren, Dowdle, Homer, Heidenreich in. Johnson out unless he absolutely forces it.
That’s the hard edge here. I know people want the shiny young back to win a job, but the Steelers don’t hand out roster spots on upside alone.
Wide receiver is deeper than people think, but the bubble still has teeth
The top of the receiver room is obvious. Metcalf, Pittman Jr., Germie Bernard, and probably Roman Wilson are the names that matter most in camp discussions[6][8]. Steel City folks keep talking about the bottom of the depth chart like it’s all one big scrum, but there’s a difference between actual competition and “we need to find special teams help.”
Steelers Depot had Ben Skowronek and Kaden Wetjen on the inside track, while SI listed A.T. Perry, Max Hurleman, Levi Wentz, Brandon Smith, Cole Burgess, and Joaquin Davis as bubble players[2][8]. That tells me the back end is more about role than raw receiving talent. Skowronek can block, play teams, and give you a physical body. Wetjen is there because he can help in multiple spots. That usually wins in Pittsburgh.
Roman Wilson is the wild card. He was listed as a bubble player by Steelers Depot in June, but that feels more like cautious bookkeeping than a real warning sign[5]. If he’s healthy and moving right, I think he’s on the roster. If he’s not, then this becomes a numbers game and somebody else sneaks through.
My cut: Metcalf, Pittman Jr., Bernard, Wilson, Skowronek, Wetjen in.
The first two are obvious. Bernard looks like a lock, and the other three give Pittsburgh enough size and special teams utility to justify the roster spots[6][8].
Tight end and offensive line are where the dirty work gets decided
Tight end looks less chaotic than the flashy spots, but there’s still a fight. Freiermuth and Washington are set, and Riley Nowakowski popped up as a bubble guy in one projection, while Jaheim Bell, JJ Galbreath, Robert Tonyan, and Lake McRee all hovered in the broader field[2][4][8]. That’s a crowded room, and camp is where a roster guy wins by blocking, not by running pretty routes in shorts.
I’m taking Freiermuth, Washington, and Bell if Bell can give them enough movement and special teams value. If not, Nowakowski feels like the type of name coaches keep because he can do the ugly stuff. Tonyan is the kind of veteran I can see getting squeezed if younger, cheaper bodies show anything at all.
Offensive line is even more brutal. The obvious core is Fautanu, Frazier, McCormick, Spencer Anderson, Dylan Cook, Brock Hoffman, Gennings Dunker, Max Iheanachor, and Broderick Jones[2][6]. The bubble names from the broader roster picture include Jack Driscoll, Greg Crippen, and Steven Jones, and SI also listed Ryan McCollum, Doug Nester, and Lorenzo Thompson as bubble players[3][8]. That’s where camp gets mean. Somebody with NFL size and a decent resume is going home because the Steelers already have enough bodies.
My cut: keep the nine-line group with Fautanu, Frazier, McCormick, Anderson, Cook, Hoffman, Dunker, Iheanachor, and Jones.
That probably means Driscoll and Crippen are fighting uphill. That’s the reality. There just aren’t enough open seats.
The defense is less dramatic, which is a good thing
The defensive side is way more settled than the offense, and that’s probably how the Steelers want it. Steelers Depot called T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer, Cam Heyward, Derrick Harmon, Keeanu Benton, Yahya Black, Jalen Ramsey, Jamel Dean, Daylen Everette, Jaquan Brisker, DeShon Elliott, and Christian Kuntz among the roster locks[6]. When that many names are already spoken for, the bubble fights are mostly about depth pieces and special teams coverage.
That’s fine. You don’t need fake chaos just to make camp interesting.
My final cut list
If I’m putting the 53 together right now, the guys I’m sweating over are Mason Rudolph, Kaleb Johnson, A.T. Perry, Levi Wentz, Cole Burgess, Joaquin Davis, Robert Tonyan, Jack Driscoll, Greg Crippen, and one or two of the fringe linebacker and safety types[2][8]. Not because they’re awful, but because the Steelers already have enough on the board and too many of those back-end jobs are about utility, not promise.
And that’s the real story here. The Steelers finally have a roster where the bubble isn’t full of random guys clinging to a depth-chart prayer. It’s full of players who either fit a job or don’t. That’s a good problem, and it makes camp a lot less about fantasy and a lot more about who can actually help when the games start counting.
