Carson Bruener destined to blaze his own trail with the Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have always been an organization who loves a good legacy story. They’ve had their share of brothers who have been on the team together, and they love drafting players who have NFL bloodlines in some way. But in the 2025 NFL Draft they took the legacy theme to another level when they drafted Carson Bruener out of the University of Washington in the 7th Round.

In case you didn’t know, Carson’s father was Mark Bruener, the former 1st Round pick tight end by the Steelers, and now a scout for the Steelers. So, when the team drafted Carson, it was an opportunity for Mark’s son to begin the same journey he did when he was a drafted player in 1995.

Nonetheless, Carson is ready to blaze his own trail, not just try to fall into the footsteps his father already set.

“I feel like the biggest thing I want to show is that I’m my own human being and my own football player,” said Bruener. “A lot of people always will just compare me to my dad. And it’s something that I’ve embraced. It hasn’t been easy all the time. Out of high school, committing to the same college my dad was an all-American and a first-round draft pick out of. Playing my whole career at Washington, constantly being compared to him.

“But it’s something where I embraced it and I actually loved it, because I knew that it just brought an extra challenge to try to be myself and be my own player and make my own name in football.

“And now, getting drafted to the same team my dad did, while my dad was a first-round pick, I was a seventh. For me, that’s just another challenge. It’s another fan base comparing me to my dad. Hey, is he going to be as great as him? Or what’s going to happen here? It brings an extra challenge, motivation to be myself. To go out there and know I am worthy of playing in the NFL. I am worthy of being on the Steelers. It’s not just because of my last name. It’s the resume I’ve built for myself.”

As for Carson, the time off between his college season ending and the start of his first NFL season seems to be taking a lot longer than he expected.

“It feels like I haven’t played football in over a year, and it’s only been five months,” said Bruener. “We played our bowl game right before the new year, but that was the last time that I was able to put on a helmet and shoulder pads.

“I know rookie minicamp isn’t shoulder pads, but it’s one of those things where just being able to go out there and get coached, be around other guys and playing football, moving around, doing linebacker drills, special teams drills, going against an offense. It’s all those little things in football that I feel like I haven’t been able to do for a while. I went to two of Washington’s spring practices, and then I went to the spring game, and I was thinking, God I miss this, I need football in my life, this is what I’m missing right now. So, it’s really great to be back on the field.”

The next step for Carson Bruener is for him to prepare for Phase 3 of OTAs, mandatory minicamp, and eventually training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. Until training camp starters, Bruener will have to continue to live with the comparisons to his father until those pads do go on in the summer heat in front of fans on Chuck Noll Field.

Be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of the offseason and get ready for training camp.