NFL football will be upon us before we know it. Here’s a look at the Pittsburgh Steelers full 2022 preseason schedule.
As summer presses on, football fans everywhere anxiously await the next time their team gets to take the stage. For the diehards, this even means preseason contests.
The preseason is a time to get a great look at newcomers and young players. While the final results of these exhibition games are mostly meaningless, these preseason games often give us a good idea of which players will be ready to contribute or take the next leap forward for the upcoming season.
For Pittsburgh Steelers fans, this is going to be a particularly exciting August coming up. For the first time in nineteen years, there will be a new quarterback at the helm and a true competition at the position.
Fans are ecstatic to see Kenny Pickett in action and no doubt want to catch a glimpse of rookies like George Pickens, Calvin Austin III, and DeMarvin Leal. Many will also be excited to see their new free agent signings in action like James Daniels, Larry Ogunjobi, Myles Jack, and Levi Wallace.
For those who are local, catching all three preseason games this year is a possibility. Fans outside of the Pittsburgh area might have a more difficult time. Here’s the Pittsburgh Steelers preseason schedule for 2022, via NFL.com:
Week 1: Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks, Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. ET
I find it odd that Seattle would agree to fly to the east coast for an exhibition game this year — especially considering that they will travel more miles than any team in the league in 2022. Ironically, the Steelers will have the shortest combined distance traveled in the NFL by the end of the year.
This will be the first time in a decade that Russell Wilson will not be a member of the Seahawks. Seattle is apparently entering a rebuilding phase and will use this game to test some of their young players.
Week 2: Steelers at Jacksonville Jaguars, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. ET
With the NFL adding a 17th game to the regular-season schedule, the fourth preseason game has now been eliminated. This means that Week 2 of the preseason is when teams will likely deploy their starters for the longest stretch — sometimes as much as the entire first half.
The Steelers defense will face off against a Trevor Lawrence-led Jaguars team that spent more money this offseason than any other team. Offensively, it will be interesting to see if Mitch Trubisky or Kenny Pickett finds more success against Jacksonville’s defense.
Week 3: Steelers vs. Detroit Lions, Aug. 28 at 4:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
This is a game that seems to get thrown onto the schedule often. Pittsburgh’s final preseason game of the year will be televised on CBS, but there aren’t likely to be many starters taking the stage in this contest.
By this point, we might have a good idea of who the starting quarterback will be, but I would expect Pickett and some of the young players to see ample action in this game before it’s nothing but third and fourth-stringers in the second half fighting for a spot on the practice squad.
Because of the quarterback competition and the young players the Steelers have on offense, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to watch Pittsburgh take the field for preseason action. I know these games don’t count, but you’re going to want to tune in this August!