As the old saying goes, if you’re not starting on offense or defense, you’d better be starting on special teams. When it comes to the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers, that adage doesn’t hold true. While every team has its share of players who aren’t logging 40 snaps per game, the Steelers have a chunk of their active, gameday roster hardly seeing the field.
I’m not talking about the weekly inactives—or even backup linemen who naturally don’t have a lot of special teams value. No one wants to see Ryan McCollum run down punts. But Pittsburgh still has at least six players on the roster, more than 12 percent of a game day roster, who routinely dress in uniform and hardly have a role. Without directly comparing to other teams, that feels heavy. Teams are always answering the question of “how does this player help us win today,” and for the names below, it’s hard to find an answer.
Here are six Steelers currently on the 53-man roster struggling to offer any meaningful value each game.
WR Scotty Miller
At the back end of the receiver depth chart all year, there’s been more reporter questions about what Scotty Miller offers the offense than there have been actual receptions. Just one on the year, a season removed from catching five in his first season with the team.
Miller has logged double-digit offensive snaps just twice this year. Unlike most back-end receivers, his special teams value is minimal. He’s logged only nine special teams snaps the entire season, seeing occasional gunner work. Despite needing return help at points throughout the season, Miller didn’t get the nod handling kicks or punts. His NFL background there is light, but he’s in the return lines every day of training camp. Miller seems like only an emergency option there. Credit to him, he’s versatile as an emergency receiver, gunner, returner, and even holder. But so far, those worst-case moments haven’t been needed.
Over the last three games, he has failed to play more than 8 combined total snaps. He’s active and dresses basically every week, but neither Arthur Smith nor Danny Smith has a role for him.
WR/RET Ke’Shawn Williams
An undrafted rookie free agent who flashed as a replacement for Calvin Austin III on punt returns, Williams’ role has become extremely niche. With a fumble and concussion, he’s seemingly lost those duties to Austin, who handled punt returns last week (after Austin himself had been fighting for playing time with Roman Wilson). Williams was still used on kick returns.
Still, he played just five special teams snaps last week. He has only had four offensive snaps all season. Dressing a pure returner isn’t a bad thing, and many teams do it. But unless Williams gets back on punts, he’ll be dressed only as a part-time returner. That’s hard to justify.
His production as a kick returner has been much worse than his output on punts, too. Williams’ 24.0-yard kick return average ranks 36th out of 40 qualifiers, whereas his 10.2-yard punt return average would rank about league-average (he doesn’t technically yet have enough reps to qualify).
RB Kaleb Johnson
Last week, OC Arthur Smith quipped he would get Kaleb Johnson more touches if he could run the ball 40 times in a game. Pittsburgh ran the ball 36 times against Chicago. And yet, Johnson didn’t log a single snap.
It marks the fifth time this season he has put up a goose egg on the snap count sheet. Zero offensively, zero on special teams. He’s only had seven games this season in which his cleats have actually touched the field.
Johnson was more of a project than a typical running back with the need to round out his game as a receiver and blocker. In moments, he has received touches. Still, with Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell clear 1A and 1B on the team, Johnson has no role. And he offers no special teams value now that he’s been stripped of kick return duties. It effectively means Pittsburgh is working with one fewer dressed player than the opposition.
S Sebastian Castro
There’s nothing wrong with being “just” a special teamer. Guys like TE Connor Heyward and ILB Carson Bruener aren’t listed here because they are core players on those units, seeing between 15-20 snaps a week. Castro, though, is just a part-timer. Reacquired after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers poached him in September, Castro has logged 15 total special teams snaps the last two weeks: five against Cincinnati, 10 versus Chicago.
So far, he’s only worked on the kick coverage and return units. It’s important work, and he had a tackle last week. Still, it’s light duty for someone not close to seeing defensive reps. Maybe that will increase during the home stretch, but it seems injuries will have to open that door instead.
S Jabrill Peppers
Peppers is in a similar boat to Castro. No longer used defensively after the Kyle Dugger trade, Peppers has a combined 21 snaps the last two games. All on special teams. He was used as a four-phase guy early in the season, but has seen those duties tick down to just three. Peppers is a little more active than others on this list and has resumed his role as the personal protector on the punt coverage team, the quarterback of that unit. But with Chuck Clark seemingly next-man-up at safety, it’d be ideal if Peppers were seeing more than about 10 special teams snaps per game.
ILB Cole Holcomb
Holcomb returned after missing three games with an unknown illness. But in the process, he lost out on his defensive role. Healthy after a Week 1 knee injury, Malik Harrison resumed and retained his part as the defensive thumper at inside linebacker. The man who replaces Payton Wilson in base packages or joins Wilson and Patrick Queen for the team’s 2-5, three-inside-linebacker package.
Against the Bears, Holcomb only played on special teams and logged 10 snaps. He played just on the kick return and coverage units. Maybe Holcomb is still ramping up and getting his legs back from the illness, but it appears Harrison will stay locked into that thumper role. He is better suited for the job.