Usually, if fans are preparing to keep an eye on a 5th-round rookie in Week 1, it’s because of preseason tragedy. Thankfully, that’s not the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025. The fifth-rounder just might be that good.
Former Iowa Hawkeye Yahya Black was taken with the 164th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to little fanfare. After all, the team’s most recent fifth-round selection, Isaiahh Loudermilk, hasn’t been much more than a below-average depth piece.
The expectations for Black were in the mud when the summer began, as reports surfaced that he wouldn’t be backing up Keeanu Benton as a nose tackle, but instead working behind the starting ends, Cam Heyward and Derrick Harmon. Still, Black refused to fly under the radar throughout the summer, impressing with his athleticism without pads and making plays when it was time to start hitting in training camp.
Now Black’s first taste of regular-season NFL football is at his doorstep, so what can fans expect from the 6-5, 340-pound behemoth in the middle against the New York Jets?
Jets matchup will reveal how much Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Yahya Black can handle right away
Adjacent injuries play a key role in how much action Black will see on Sunday afternoon. Harmon’s knee injury has already ruled him out of the first game of the season, so Black will see plenty of snaps in his stead.
On the other side of the ball, the Jets lost starting right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker for the season, leaving former Packers center Josh Myers to fill in. The step down in talent from Vera-Tucker is noticeable, but Myers is entering his fifth season with 56 starts under his belt.
Still, the interior of the Jets’ offensive line is where the weakness lies talent-wise, even if that’s where they carry the bulk of their experience. Black will have to look out for the savvy veteran tactics inside and play with great awareness to allow for his athleticism to carry him to success.
Still, the gauge of success for Black won’t lie in the stat sheet. While he did pick up back-to-back sacks in the preseason finale, that sequence was quite an outlier in his career. He only had 5.5 sacks at Iowa, and only once did he record more than one sack in a season. He also didn’t rack up many tackles, only grabbing more than 35 in one season once.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he can have zeros across the board and come away with a positive grade. After all, Black’s rise this summer came from making plays.
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Lacking the speed and savviness to get after Justin Fields as a pass rusher should afford him opportunities to instead bat down passes in the trenches. Just as critical will be preserving his gap integrity for potential rush lanes when Fields looks to bail from the pocket.
Against the run, Black must make an impact in slowing down the Jets’ rushing attack, even if that just means covering his gap responsibilities and eating up blocks to free up the linebackers. If the Steelers hold the Jets under 125 yards on the ground, it will likely be counted as a win for the defense and would also suggest that Black did his job well.
Naturally, Black doesn’t have to come away with a monstrous game for fans to feel great about his role in the defense moving forward; he just has to play within his capabilities and do his job well, as he has all summer.
After all, with Harmon possibly returning in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, Week 1 could be the most action Black sees all season. He’ll certainly be in the rotation plenty as the season moves along, but continuing to impress the coaching staff in his first NFL action should grant him some extra snaps with three talented players in front of him in the starting lineup.