One of the latest trends for the Pittsburgh Steelers under general manager Omar Khan has been relying on veteran players to fill in spots on the roster. And over the last three seasons, Khan has brought in an overwhelming number of aging veterans to round out the roster, including players like Jalen Ramsey, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Jonnu Smith, Asante Samuel Jr., etc.
Most of these additions have been relatively cheap to acquire, but it does signal one issue that the Steelers have had, and that is the lack of young, elite talent on the roster. The Steelers have just three players on their roster from the 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 drafts. That is a big stretch of drafts to have so few players left.
The good news for Pittsburgh is that the 2023 and 2024 drafts have helped fill in the gaps. However, they are still waiting for some of those players to break out in a big way. Consider this: Pittsburgh has not drafted a single All-Pro player since 2017. And they’ve had only two other Pro Bowl selections (Najee Harris, Diontae Johnson) during that stretch. Their roster is void of young, elite talent, especially compared to some of the other teams in the conference.
Pittsburgh Steelers near bottom of the NFL in young talent
In a recent article by Bill Barnwell, he wrote about every team’s young players (under the age of 25) and ranked them from 1-32 going into the 2026 season. It's worth noting that teams like the Patriots and Seahawks ranked very highly on this list last year, so it was no surprise when they both made it to the Super Bowl in 2025.
However, Pittsburgh finished near the bottom of the rankings, coming in at No. 28. Here is a snippet of what Barnwell had to say about the young talent in Pittsburgh going into the upcoming year:
“Much of the Steelers' offensive line just turned 25, but first-round rookie Max Iheanachor is 22 and third-round selection Gennings Dunker is 23. Third-round quarterback Drew Allar is 22. Second-round wide receiver Germie Bernard will turn 23 in December and will probably be starting in the slot this season. New return man Kaden Wetjen is 24. On defense, edge rusher Nick Herbig, who led the NFL in pass rush win rate (26.3%) last season, will be 25 in November.”
Players like Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier don’t qualify for this list as they recently turned 25, but that highlights some of the issues. Pittsburgh has some young talent on its roster, but they are either getting older or have yet to take a big step forward.
Missing on players like Broderick Jones, Kenny Pickett, Najee Harris, etc. has set this team back in a big way, but the hope is that players like Iheanachor and Bernard can be the next in line.
Pittsburgh has one of the NFL’s oldest rosters going into the 2026 season, but they will need several young players to step up in a big way if they want to be a playoff team. And maybe more importantly, they need to find some building blocks who are on rookie deals if they want to eventually break through in the AFC.
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