4 former Steelers poised for huge 2025 seasons including Justin Fields
4 former Steelers poised for huge 2025 seasons including Justin Fields
The Pittsburgh Steelers took a huge risk this offseason by completely gutting out their skill-position players from top to bottom. Quarterbacks Justin Fields and Russell Wilson are both set to start for other teams, running back Najee Harris as well and wide receiver George Pickens now gets to line up with an elite running mate at receiver.
Ultimately, how these four players perform in relation to their replacements will go a long way in terms of public perception of the job head coach Mike Tomlin has done. Let's break out the positions these four find themselves in.
Quarterback Justin Fields
Fields got a raw deal in Pittsburgh. After going 4-2 as a starter in 2024, Tomlin chose to bench Fields in favor of Wilson, which ended any opportunity to re-sign Fields. Now Fields is the new starting quarterback of the New York Jets and has some excellent weapons around him and a coaching staff willing to tailor things around his skills.
Quarterback Russell Wilson
No one expected Wilson to come in and win a Super Bowl. But after missing the first six games with a calf injury, Wilson returned last season and started off hot. But after going 6-1 in his first seven starts, the wheels fell off and the team crumbled down the stretch. Now, Wilson is set to start but compete with rookie Jaxson Dart to run what is set up to be an explosive Giants passing game.
Running back Najee Harris
When Harris signed with the Los Angeles Chargers, we immediately felt like this was the best thing that could happen to him. We love Harris as a player and never felt like he was the best fit in Pittsburgh and didn't have the offensive line to help him be successful. Now, even with rookie Omarion Hampton with the Chargers, Harris is in a great spot to be a much more effecient runner, even if he isn't the full-time starter.
Wide receiver George Pickens
We hated to see the Steelers trade Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. Even with all his issues, we felt like having DK Metcalf on the team as well as Aaron Rodgers to be the offensive leader would have been great for him. Now, he goes to a near-identical situation with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to push his game to the next level.
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USA Today
40 minutes ago
- USA Today
Game-by-game predictions for the Steelers 2025 schedule after the addition of Aaron Rodgers
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Fox Sports
44 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Why the NFL's Two-point Conversion Rate Is At a 15-year Low
"Absolutely gutted." That was Mark Andrews' candid reaction after dropping a two-point conversion in the final two minutes of the Ravens' divisional-round playoff game against the Bills last season. Down 27-25 and with everything on the line, All-Pro quarterback Lamar Jackson rolled out on a snowy field and delivered a catchable pass to the three-time Pro Bowl tight end. His drop effectively ended Baltimore's Super Bowl hopes. A week later, in the AFC Championship Game, the Bills went for two twice — in the second and third quarters — and missed both times, ultimately losing to the Chiefs by three points. And there went Buffalo's Super Bowl hopes. In Week 18, two playoff teams lost on fourth-quarter two-point conversion fails. The Packers missed a chance to tie with 4:28 left against the Bears, and the Rams lost to the Seahawks. And Washington's surge into the postseason included a December win over the Saints in which New Orleans, down one after a touchdown as time expired, went for two and failed. Missed two-point conversions made an impact all over the 2024 NFL season, and the overall statistics show that it's a growing trend. NFL offenses converted on just 41% of two-point attempts last season, down from 55% the previous year and the lowest conversion rate in 15 years. Why the downturn? We asked the league's best defensive coordinators how they prepare for — and successfully stop — a play that happens less than once every two games. Eight teams went all of last season without converting a two-point attempt, and four teams went all year without giving one up. But the best defenses have a play or two at the ready specifically for stopping two-point attempts, knowing they're a little more likely to show up in today's NFL. "I think teams are starting to go for it a little bit more with analytics: 'Hey, we should go for two here. We should go for two earlier in the game,'" said Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, whose defense allowed just one conversion in five attempts last year. "So as defensive coaches, you're not just waiting for the end of the game, the last play. Are we going to win or lose on this? You're preparing throughout the game. In between series, you're thinking, 'I'd better have a two-point call ready.' You're putting more time into it, so there's more awareness, which probably leads to more success [stopping the play]." First, some basic numbers on two-point conversions: NFL teams went for two 9.8% of the time after touchdowns last season, and of those attempts, a large majority — 72% — came in the fourth quarter. A kicker might be injured, or struggling, but normally, going for two is a scoreboard decision. If you're down two late, of course you go for it for the chance to tie; if a touchdown puts you up by one, you go for two so an opponent's field goal only ties the game, and so on. Conversions take place from the 2-yard line, but teams don't treat them like a goal-line play. Goal-line plays usually feature heavy personnel on both sides of the line, with multiple tight ends and extra defensive linemen. A two-point conversion generally has the offense in "11 personnel," which features three receivers, one tight end and one back, a base look that brings the quarterback to the line with confidence. The two-point conversion is somewhat predictably a passing play. Last season, 73% of two-point attempts were passing plays, and if you pull back to the past 10 years and nearly 1,200 conversion attempts, it's a pass play 72.5% of the time. A third-and-2 play anywhere on the field is generally a passing down in the NFL — 61% were passing plays last season in that situation — but it's even more so in the close quarters near the goal line. "Most people aren't willing to run the ball in that situation," said Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., whose defense had more two-point stops than any other team last season. "So where are most people going to attack? They're going to try to attack your flats. Are they a flat left or flat right team? Are they going to try to move the pocket? Are they a crosser team? Once you realize that, there's only so many things they're going to do down there, so you rep it. ... Now, if they run the ball, that's what makes it a whole lot more difficult, but not a lot of people are going to do that." Though teams pass more than they run when going for two, there's a higher success rate when they run. Last season, teams were successful on 50% of rushing conversion attempts, still a 10-year low, but better than the 37% success when passing, the lowest since 2007. You might think the best two-point call has the quarterback rolling out for a pass/run option, but the threat of a quarterback scrambling for a two-point conversion is fairly low. In 135 total two-point attempts last year, only nine were quarterback runs, and only four of them succeeded — one each from Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Kyler Murray and Anthony Richardson. Traditional running back carries were more common and more successful, converting 14 of 26 attempts. "Everybody is now very leery of keeping these quarterbacks from being able to get out of the pocket," said Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, whose defense held opponents to zero conversions on two-point attempts all of last season. "That's when, oftentimes, conversions happen. I just think defenses have an idea of what it takes to stop them, and offenses maybe being a little pass-happy down there has caused it to go down a little bit." A defensive coordinator preparing a game plan can watch all the opposing playcaller's calls in a short amount of time. Plus, a two-point call often follows the lead of a team's third-down playcalling in the red zone. As Hafley points out, a single play has two points riding on it, but a third-down play in the red zone is essentially a four-point play, knowing a stop likely limits the drive to a field goal instead of a touchdown. "I think the importance is huge, because ultimately it could cost you the game, right?" Hafley said. "I usually have guys go way back in that coordinator's history and just pull up all the two-point plays, just like you prepare for anything situationally. We prepare for two-point the same way. Those are the most important plays, because you're shifting points and sometimes momentum." The closest parallel to a two-point conversion is a third down or fourth down from the same 2-yard line. There were 58 such plays in the NFL last season, and teams scored on 47% of those, slightly higher than on two-point conversions. On those plays from the 2, the pass/run split was even more pronounced, with 47 pass plays against 11 runs, an 81% passing rate, even though a conversion is again more likely to be successful on run plays. Though two-point attempts are still uncommon, they are more prominent than just a few years ago — and that's by design. In 2015, the NFL moved its extra points from 15-yard kicks to 33 yards, a shift designed to make PATs less of a foregone conclusion. That lowered the success rate for extra points and encouraged going for two more often. Teams went for two on 6% of touchdowns or fewer every year from 2003-14, but that rate has hovered around 10% the past seven years. It's somewhat counterintuitive, but when it comes to conversions, closer doesn't always translate to easier. When Buffalo went for two in the second quarter against the Chiefs in last year's playoffs, the Bills took a point off the board after an offsides penalty on the extra point. Going for it from the 1, they tried a Josh Allen keeper and were stopped short, and that miss was followed by another failed two-point conversion later in the game. In the regular season last year, NFL teams went for two from the 1-yard line 14 times but only converted on six of those, a 43% success rate that's barely ahead of the overall numbers from the 2. The 41% success rate on two-point conversions in last year's regular season was validated in last year's playoffs, when teams went 5-for-13, only 38% conversions, and two of those successful conversions came in the final three minutes of the Super Bowl, when the Chiefs were down by at least 20 points. Whitt said part of the Commanders' success against two-point conversions is that they rep it in practice every week. They had nine two-point attempts against them — allowing only one conversion — and lined up in the same defensive look on six of the nine plays. They install two two-point calls each week, but the second is just in place for if a team goes for two a second time, to give another look. "Those are game-winning plays," Whitt said. "DQ [Dan Quinn] does a great job of talking to the team about winning moments when it comes down to it. We rep it as part of our red zone defense when we get into the low red, and we talk about it once it's closer to the game: 'This is what we're going to go with.'" Even more than usual, NFL defenses will try to swarm an opponent's top offensive weapon at the snap on a two-point conversion, forcing a quarterback to look in another direction. Of the 12 NFL players to catch nine or more touchdowns last season, only Jacksonville rookie Brian Thomas Jr. was able to score on a two-point conversion. Taking away the most logical first target is only part of the challenge. "It's hard to defend," Hafley said. "They're bang-bang plays that could go either way. Sometimes, you're in the right call, and you have a guy sitting all over it and you cover it, but the quarterback scrambles around, things go off schedule and they make a play. "There's a lot that goes into it down there." Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman . Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Chiefs Pro Bowler Travis Kelce Addresses Weight-Loss Rumors
Rumors have swirled that Kansas City Chiefs superstar Travis Kelce lost 25 pounds this offseason. But on the second day of Chiefs minicamp, the tight end debunked that. 'I never said that. Don't believe all you read on the Internet, guys,' he said. 'I'm down some weight, yeah, from the end of the season last year.' To get in better shape, the 10-time Pro Bowl tight end, who was listed at 6-5, 250 pounds on the official Super Bowl LIX roster, focused on form running. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has been Kelce's main passer since 2018, noticed the changes when Kelce reported to minicamp. 'From what I've seen,' Mahomes said, 'he's ready to go. I mean, he's been putting in the work this offseason and he's excited for another chance to make a run at it.' Kelce and Mahomes' last run came up one game short of the first three-peat in the Super Bowl era. Kelce blames himself for the 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the team for whom his brother, Jason, used to play. He had no catches in the first half and finished with just four for 39 yards on the game. Kelce expressed disappointment in not getting open enough or blocking the right players. 'I failed,' he said, 'especially in that last game in being the leader and being the one that can step up and make plays.' Another rumor — in addition to that of his losing 25 pounds — was that he was going to retire after the 2024-25 season. That season was a down year by his incredibly lofty standards. The four-time All-Pro, who holds the NFL record with most consecutive 1,000 yards receiving seasons by a tight end, had just 823, representing his lowest total since his second year in the NFL. His three touchdown receptions were also his least since his second year. Kelce, who has played 12 years in the NFL, will turn 36 this season and certainly would have had enough to keep him busy away from the game, including his popular podcast, investment in Garage Beer, burgeoning acting career that features a role in the Billy Madison sequel and famous relationship with musician Taylor Swift. Mahomes never tried to push him toward returning, preferring to giving him space. Kelce, though, ultimately made the decision to return because he still loves football, and it remains his priority. 'I've got a lot more to prove,' he said. 'I have so much more fun coming into the building.' The 2025 season represents his contract year. In April of 2024, the Chiefs gave him a raise, rewarding him with a two-year, $34.25 million contract, including $17 million guaranteed. The average annual value made him the NFL's highest-paid tight end at the time, but he now ranks third behind Tre McBride of the Arizona Cardinals and George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers. Asked if he plans to retire after his contract expires at the end of the 2025 season, Kelce said the only thing he knows is that the Chiefs will be the only team for whom he'll ever play. 'I got one year on this contract,' Kelce said. 'We'll deal with that down the road when the time is right.'
