Steelers announce captains for the 2025 season
On Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers players voted for their captains for the 2025 NFL season. Having two players for defense as well as one each for offense and special teams, the Steelers captains for the 2025 season are Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, Aaron Rodgers, and Miles Killebrew.
Our 2025 team captains 🫡
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— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 1, 2025
The 2025 season will become the eleventh-straight year for Cam Heyward as a captain. After being the only defensive captain in 2021, Heyward was joined once again by T.J. Watt for the last three seasons after both also being captains in 2020. This is now the fourth year in a row the pair is representing the Steelers defense and the fifth time overall for Watt.
On offense, quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been named captain in his first season in Pittsburgh. Last year Russell Wilson was the lone offensive captain while the year before it was just Kenny Pickett. The 2022 season saw Mitch Trubisky holding the captain’s role along with Najee Harris. This will be Rodgers 16th NFL season as a captain as he was selected 12 times in Green Bay as well as both seasons in New York with the Jets.
When it comes to special teams, Miles Killebrew receives the honor for a fourth season after joining the Steelers in 2021. Not having a special teams captain for the Steelers in 2017, a different player had been selected each season since with Chris Boswell in 2018, Roosevelt Nix in 2019, Jordan Dangerfield in 2020, and Derek Watt in 2021. This is the first time a player has been named special teams captain in more than three consecutive years for the Steelers since Robert Golden in 2014 through 2016.
The Steelers captains for the 2025 season see three of the four players who were also captains in 2024 with the difference being Aaron Rodgers for Russell Wilson. The previous season in 2023 saw three of the four the same again, but this time it was Kenny Pickett. In 2022 the Steelers had five captains as they had two for each side of the ball in Heyward and Watt along with two offensive captains in Mitch Trubisky and Najee Harris, and in 2021 the Steelers only had three captains as they had one for offense, defense, and special teams. Ben Roethlisberger was the offensive captain for the 13th time in his final season along with Cam Heyward on the defense and Derek Watt for special teams. During the 2020 season, the Steelers had five captains as they had two players each on offense and defense. Maurkice Pouncey served as an offensive captain in 2020 which was his third consecutive season and fourth overall for the Steelers. The other player who was a defensive captain in 2020 was linebacker T.J. Watt.
The Steelers have had a different quarterback selected as captain since the 2021 season. The progression has gone Ben Roethlisberger, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Russell Wilson, and now Aaron Rodgers.
Stay tuned to Steel Curtain Network’s continued coverage as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for Week 1 of the 2025 NFL regular season against the Jets at 1 PM this Sunday in New York.
