**Who is the Steelers’ biggest breakout candidate for 2025?**
If one Steelers player is going to be their breakout candidate in 2025, who will it most likely be? Unfortunately, several young players haven’t quite broken through yet, so there are some options. Of course, a breakthrough season is subjective—can an offensive lineman have one, for example?
It’s possible for a rookie to be a breakout star, too, but do the Steelers have any strong candidates? For example, it might be asking too much to expect Derrick Harmon to post a 10-sack season. Arguably, the rookie with the best chance would be RB Kaleb Johnson, but he still has to share reps with Jaylen Warren.
The Steelers have a lot of second and third-year players, some of whom have shown promise but haven’t fully developed. The name that immediately comes to mind is Broderick Jones, which is why I mentioned offensive tackles. The Steelers would undoubtedly love to see him have a breakout season in Year 3, moving to left tackle. They wouldn’t mind one from Troy Fautanu, either, after missing 16 games as a rookie.
Typically, skill position players are most often associated with the term “breakout”, but other than Johnson, do the Steelers have any notable candidates? George Pickens would have been one of the top choices in the NFL, but, you know, they traded him. We can include Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson, but I wouldn’t put money down on either.
Defensively, the player I would really like to see have a breakout season is Joey Porter Jr. He is arguably one of the most pivotal players to the Steelers’ future, a third-year theoretical lockdown cornerback. The 32nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, he progressed fairly steadily as a rookie but did not grow at all last season.
The other name that immediately jumps out at me on defense is from the same Steelers draft class as Jones and Porter. That would be Keeanu Benton, the third-year nose tackle. We have seen his talent for two years, but the production has to match. And he can certainly stand to work on his consistency in the meantime.
So, who are your Steelers breakout candidates, if you believe I left a significant name out? I’ll even spot you one and throw out Mason Rudolph’s name—you’re welcome.
_The Steelers are rebuilding, or reloading, whatever they feel the need to call it, after another disappointment last season. Though they limped into the playoffs, they once again embarrassed themselves therein._
_Just like last year, the biggest question hanging over the Steelers is_ [_the quarterback question_](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/04/schrager-thinks-steelers-passing-on-qb-in-1st-round-means-theyre-all-in-on-aaron-rodgers/)_. While they ultimately traded George Pickens, they have other decisions to make. The_ [_2025 NFL Draft class_](https://www.steelers.com/draft/) _is now behind us, so most of the roster construction is complete._
_But we still have a long offseason ahead for Steelers football, or football in shorts. Certain will-he-or-won’t-he situations remain in play, which we continue to monitor. Now it’s about evaluating the roster in place and filling holes as we go._