Steelers Stock Report: Who’s Rising and Falling, Football In Shorts Edition

This series of weekly articles will take us through the beginning of the season. Here, we’ll analyze what is trending based on actual performance or mere sentiment about all Pittsburgh Steelers related coaches, players, and circumstances using a nifty analogy to the stock market. Said players, coaches, or quirky happenings surrounding the team will be placed in category variations based on “Stock Up,” “Stock Down,” or “Unchanged” (with maybe a few surprise designations here and there.)

There is absolutely no scientific nor common sense basis for said determinations. It is a combination of factors including but not limited to: reports from camp, social media, personal mood swings, sideways glances from strangers and the occasional bad taco.

STOCK UP

Kaleb Johnson- Mentioned in very glowing terms by Mike Tomlin this week (especially unusual for a rookie), KJ has impressed with his conditioning and performance early in camp. There’s already big questions arising about how the Steelers will utilize their RB’s. This would likely be less controversial, like a “Thunder and Lightning” kind of perspective, Except that Johnson comes in at 224 lbs and Warren is 215. It’s more like “Thunder and more stout Thunder,” which makes their potential usage curious. More definition may come when the pads come on and “backs and backers” cranks up Tuesday. If Kaleb struggles in protection, it won’t matter how well he runs- even as enticing as this very early view looks:

Huge run from rookie Kaleb Johnson #steelers #nfl pic.twitter.com/Al8kDYaccL

— MuthBurgh88😶‍🌫️ (@MuthBurgh) July 24, 2025

The Steelers Secondary and Flexibility- Interceptions. Lots of interceptions. It seems every day there is a report of impressive INT’s and PBU’s. Glass half empty are worried it’s that Pittsburgh QB, Aaron Rodgers, may have left that hill way behind while the glass half full crowd is starting to get excited about the top 5 (Ramsey, Elliot, Thornhill, and Porter, and Slay) and even some of the back ups (Trice and Echols) They have already revealed flexibility with Ramsey sometimes taking the slot and sometimes outside and various adjustments around that move. The earliest days of camp are proving the defensive backfield to be athletic and not hesitant about planting their foot in the ground to make a play. If that courage to take risks transfers into stadiums, this season could quickly become exciting as they face a handful of somewhat INT prone qb’s in the first 5-6 weeks of the season.

That’s “MR.” Harmon to you- Derrick Harmon has impressed thus far with multiple reported TFL’s and pressures, and even some PBU’s. It seems he is getting a whole lot more respect than is typical for a rookie on the interior defensive line. National beat reporters like Mike Defabo and others on the ground have dedicated many words to summing up the impressive ability he has displayed as well as the Steelers leaving him out there in sub packages more than a typical rookie. Like I said- “respect.”

STOCK DOWN

Training Camp- Due to rumored/ suggested/ potentially impending amendments to increase the 17 game schedule of the current NFL CBA (which technically does not expire until 2031, indicating how much value that ink has vs the paper it’s written on), there is a rising amount of talk regarding the necessity of training camps and what is really needed to produce a good regular season product while evaluating talent. Add a growing list of season ending injuries and, it seems, training camp is almost as much dreaded by players and fans alike as it is eagerly anticipated. (Keep an eye out for an upcoming deeper-dive article from me on this very subject.)

Aaron Rodgers- If you celebrate interceptions on one side, you’re virtually obligated to remark on the primary arm that threw them. Reports are there have been some nice throws (but yours truly can’t help but note he has been mostly successful in seven shots sessions), but there definitely needs to be much work on the chemistry, placement, and plays as camp moves along.

Broderick Jones- It seems that Jones’ shift to his more ‘natural position’ has not remedied his penchant for missed assignments thus far. Add to that he’s already one of the aforementioned camp injuries, and he is definitely not trending in the direction most had hoped.

Troy Fautanu- Perhaps even more distressing is that the other starting tackle on the Steelers line has often been the victim of TJ Watt’s good work. I was reviewing various camp play by play reports and counted five separate instances along the lines of, “Pass complete- but Fautanu was beaten on the rep/ likely to have been a sack by Watt in a game” or “Fautanu did better this time against Watt but still technically lost the rep.” Just like the interceptions vs throws debate, it’s hard to discern if this is due less to Fautanu’s ability as much as it is Watt’s greatness, but the early returns seem to suggest Fautanu is, at least, a bit rusty after the missed season.

The “It’s football in shorts!” Fact/ Excuse- This is most often vociferously declared by fans the instant absolutely anything extraordinary takes place- and it makes no difference whether it is a very good thing or a very bad thing. If an amazing play is made, “Who cares? It’s football in shorts!” And if a particular player is doing poorly in camp, their performance can be excused by the supposed meaninglessness of practice at this time of year. The problem is, obviously, that if ‘football in shorts’ is as useless as it is being claimed, then why do it? Is there any kind of practice that forecasts anything? In any other endeavor I can think of, like, studying for a test, preparing for a presentation, a musician practicing for their band or symphony, an actor for their play or scene- the list goes on…if they suck in their practice, they’re really likely to be bad when the lights come on and vice/versa when they are stellar in practice. I’m not sure why football is seen as an exception to this (no matter what Mike Tomlin might claim on press day).

Unchanged

Mike Tomlin- This man is likely to camp here for a long time. After the concluding weeks of last season, I don’t perceive he’s really regarded very highly to begin with by a lot of Steeler fans, so there isn’t too much lower he can track until the games are played and begin to count. (I do think, rightly or wrongly, mounting injury lists during camp tend to give rise to questioning the head coach’s strategy. Thus far, there is concern but no starter has been lost for the season/ a verifiably long period of time.) Likewise, he isn’t likely to get much lift from here until later in the season, and the NFL did him no favors by, yet again, stacking all the divisional/ toughest games on the back end. So, welcome Coach T to the “darned if you do/  or don’t” portion of your season which should last until ehhhh- Christmas maybe?

And that’s all he (being me) wrote! See you next week!