In 2024, the Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with a lot of turmoil. While their offense was better, it still wasn’t great, and their defense wilted to end the year. However, they still had several players post great seasons. Recently, CBS Sports analyst Pete Prisco released his list of the top 100 NFL players entering the 2025 season, with only two Steelers in T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward making the cut.
Watt didn’t have his best season in 2024, but in Prisco’s eyes, he was still elite. However, he landed just outside of Prisco’s top 10, coming in at No. 11. Going into last season, Prisco ranked Watt as his fifth-best player, so this is a slight fall.
That isn’t too surprising, though. Watt had a down year by his own standard in 2024. Appearing in all 17 games, Watt had 11.5 sacks and six forced fumbles. While he was still dominant, toward the end of the year, he was less effective, which Prisco noted.
“He had 11.5 sacks, but didn’t have one in the final three games or in the postseason loss to the Ravens,” Prisco wrote. “Watt played a lot of plays and seemed to wear down some late in the season. He also saw a ton of attention from opposing offenses. At 31, he’s still an elite player.”
Prisco still has a high opinion of Watt, but he sees him as the third-best edge rusher in the league. Micah Parsons is ranked 10th, and Myles Garrett is No. 2, with only Patrick Mahomes above him. Being that they were part of the same draft class and both play in the AFC North, Watt and Garrett are often compared to each other. Here, Prisco makes it clear that he thinks Garrett is better.
Heyward was the only other Steeler to make Prisco’s list, and he comes in at No. 37. Last year, he didn’t make Prisco’s top 100 at all, so this is a massive jump for Heyward. That’s a reflection of him being healthy in 2024. After an injury-plagued 2023 season, Heyward once again reached elite form.
At 35 years old, Heyward defied Father Time, posting one of the best seasons of his career. He recorded eight sacks and 12 tackles for loss, being named a first-team All-Pro for the fourth time in his career.
“After a down injury-plagued season in 2023, Heyward had one of his best seasons in 2024,” Prisco wrote. “He had eight sacks and was a force for the Steelers defense. Age is starting to be an issue at 35.”
Most defensive linemen start to slow down at Heyward’s age, but as long as he’s been healthy, he’s shown no signs of that. While it might be difficult for him to continue at this pace, betting against Heyward might be a bad idea.
Last year, George Pickens and Minkah Fitzpatrick also made Prisco’s list. Unfortunately, they fell out of his top 100 this year. That’s a little surprising for Fitzpatrick, who bounced back after dealing with injuries throughout 2023. Pickens also played well in 2024, but perhaps his repeated outbursts caused him to fall out of Prisco’s rankings.
Chris Boswell might be the other Steeler who deserved some recognition, although it’s tough to make the argument for a kicker to be a top-100 player. We’ll see if any Steelers do enough to crack Prisco’s list next year. They have several young, exciting prospects, so perhaps they’ll have more than two entries in 2026.
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