Steelers
Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-27 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Thursday’s preseason finale.
WINNERS
WR Germie Bernard
Bernard made sure the Steelers wouldn’t be shut out a second-straight week. Capitalizing off a Bills’ muffed punt, Bernard scored the first touchdown of his NFL career in statement fashion. A simple bubble from Will Howard against off coverage, but Bernard showed his YAC ability making former first round CB Max Hairston miss for his score.
Rookie WR Germie Bernard breaks the tackle on the way to the touchdown!
PITvsBUF on @NFLNetwork
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/1NbNFYPcri
— NFL (@NFL) August 27, 2026
It was Bernard’s only catch of the day but he made it count. Bernard’s not the tallest guy but well-built and showed how tough he is to take down in space. He’s come alive when the lights are on.
DB Devan Boykin & Robert Spears-Jennings
An active day for Boykin and Spears-Jennings who served as the starting safeties with the vets getting the night off. Boykin was active around the ball and played downhill to pick up seven tackles by the half. He finished with the team lead. Spears-Jennings continues to be a thumper who knocks you down when he makes contact. He had a good stick on the first drive and pressured Buffalo into a throwaway a few plays later.
Spears-Jennings has done all he can to make the team. Now, we’ll see if the numbers crunch gives him the nod. Boykin is trending towards staying on the practice squad.
WR Max Hurleman
Hurleman is a steady player who finished his strong summer with a good performance Thursday night. An improvement from his hot 2025 start that fizzled out in the end. Hurleman made plays as a receiver, including a third-and-long pickup against the blitz. He was an effective run blocker, cracking the safety to give RB Travis Homer the edge on a second quarter run.
He tied for the team lead with three receptions on three targets and had the outright advantage with 50 yards.
NT Gabriel Rubio
It’s tough to judge linemen watching a game live, but Rubio stood out on a couple of reps. His strength and “knock back” power to press the line of scrimmage that was evident in the first half. He plays with great pad level and leverage for a tall guy. In the second half, he flashed a solid rip move to get pressure. Developing as a pass rusher is his shortcoming and finding even one move would be big for him.
Veteran DL Dean Lowry was one of many who didn’t play tonight. Is that a sign Lowry has made the team over him or just a chance for Rubio and younger names chances to reps and prove they belong? It’s hard to say. Answers will arrive by Sunday evening.
CB D’Shawn Jamison
A nice night for Jamison after allowing a Cover 0 touchdown to end the Jets’ game. Jamison replaced an injured Ben Skowronek at gunner and made a downfield tackle to prevent what could’ve been a good return. In the second half, he broke up a vertical shot down the right sideline, finishing the play and playing through the hands. He gave up a crossing route in the fourth quarter but flushed it and recorded a tackle for loss immediately after. Late in the game, he made a hard-charge goal line stop.
It’s hard to see him make the 53 but practice squad is a real possibility.
RB Lew Nichols
Nichols started the game and saw most of the first half reps. He ran with decisiveness, burst, power, and agility. Nichols rarely has negative reps. In the first half, he averaged 5.7 yards per carry on seven carries and added a 13 yard reception.
Pittsburgh sat most of its vets in this game but Travis Homer dressed and played, subbing in after Nichols. It’s still hard to say if Nichols is going to make the 53-man roster but he’s clearly the third-best offensive option behind Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle. If there’s a multi-game injury to one of them, Nichols should get the nod.
RB Eli Heidenreich
Heidenreich wasn’t spectacular but consistently solid Thursday night. He ran hard, broke tackles, and scored his first touchdown with rookie OT Max Iheanachor leading the way in space.
ELI TD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #Steelers pic.twitter.com/8ZNaZ2OkOG
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) August 28, 2026
Heidenreich played over Kaleb Johnson in this game to boot. He also saw time on special teams, making the tackle on the opening kickoff and serving as the starting personal protector. He’s still tracking for the practice squad, but this was a nice way to end the preseason. He looked more comfortable and decisive.
WR/RET Kaden Wetjen
Wetjen was close to falling onto the losers list before his 44 yard punt return touchdown. A prime chance for a big play with Buffalo backed up, guaranteeing an open field punt and usually a quicker operation. Wetjen reversed course and was nearly taken down, but he broke two tackles and sped down the left sideline for the touchdown. Kudos to the blocking team for keeping things clean, too, and WR Cornell Powell threw a key final block.
Kaden Wetjen punt return TD!!!!!!!!!! #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/3AkpUbZHMd
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) August 28, 2026
Wetjen moved the sticks on a third down angle route and showed plus ball security (aside from the ball bouncing off him while out of bounds). He still has to learn to get vertical more quickly, but a touchdown in the return game are massive. That should remove some of the heat Wetjen’s been feeling.
LOSERS
ILB Carson Bruener
Bruener impressed last week but couldn’t carry that over into the finale. He was juked out in space by RB Frank Gore Jr. (a reminder we are all so very old) turning a throw at the line of scrimmage into a near-touchdown. Bruener will resume his role as a quality special teamer but this was a quieter note to end a pretty good summer.
Still, it wasn’t the type of performance that screams his place in the Week One starting lineup. In fairness, none of the right tackle options have shown that.
OT Dylan Cook
Cook had his struggles against Pittsburgh’s backups. He’s too vulnerable against bull/power moves and gets run into the pocket far too often. Including on the first snap of the game that ended in a Will Howard sack. On first watch, this was Cook’s worst game of the preseason, and there aren’t other inspiring alternatives in Broderick Jones and Iheanachor.
First round rookie Max Iheanachor struggled early and had to knock off rust after allowing an ugly sack. But he progressed throughout the game and the hold called on him was bogus; refs have a bad habit of calling those chops as holds. So I won’t put him fully on the loser’s list. Broderick Jones’ issues persist, and Pittsburgh has valid question marks at right tackle no matter who plays this year.
Defensive Splash
In terms of turnovers. Pittsburgh ends the preseason without a defensive takeaway. Their only turnover came on special teams thanks to a Ray Davis muffed punt the Steelers had no real impact on aside from some good directional punting from Cameron Johnston. DeShon Elliott forced a fumble against the New York Jets but the defense couldn’t recover. The group also felt like it needed to warm up to every game, too, with sluggish starts.
Pittsburgh played most of the summer with backups and hardly featured any starters Thursday night. That context is key. But one question I had under new DC Patrick Graham was Pittsburgh’s ability to create takeaways. It’s not in Graham’s track record and the next one the Steelers get will be their first of his tenure.
CB Tamon Lynum
A rough end for Lynum. He missed a block as a jammer on the punt coverage team and then ran into Kaden Wetjen to prevent a better return. He was flagged for defensive pass interference late in the game with the Bills trailing by seven. He gave up the go-ahead two-point conversion, too.
He was set to be waived no matter what happened tonight but he sure didn’t show up positively.