Steelers Camp — Aug 31: Jones to Dallas, and All Four Quarterbacks Stay

The Steelers traded Broderick Jones on Saturday evening — Jones and a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Cowboys for a 2027 third and a 2027 sixth, first reported by Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network and confirmed on the team's official transaction list, per Teresa Varley at Steelers.com. Josh Carney's case for the deal at Steelers Depot: the former first-round tackle allowed five pressures and three sacks on 140 preseason snaps in his return from spinal fusion surgery, and the team had already declined his fifth-year option in May. What the deal leaves behind is thinner. First-round rookie Max Iheanachor made his pro debut in Thursday's finale and it was uneven — a sack allowed and a holding penalty, per Brian Batko at Steelers.com. Former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch's verdict on the right tackle depth, per Adam Miller at Steelers Depot: "That is a problem."

The second trade came Sunday: running back Kaleb Johnson to the Packers for a 2028 sixth-round pick, pending a physical, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, and likewise confirmed on the team's transaction list, per Varley. A 2025 third-rounder went for a sixth two years away, and two days before the deal Matthew Marczi at Steelers Depot had called the verdict "all but in" on Johnson as "Omar Khan's worst draft pick so far." The trade leaves Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren as the veteran backfield, with rookie Eli Heidenreich — a Mt. Lebanon native who played at Navy — winning the No. 3 job after scoring on a 9-yard touchdown run in the finale, per Batko. And per Gerry Dulac, relayed by Ross McCorkle at Steelers Depot, the team wasn't shopping anyone but was "willing to listen if teams approached them" — Mason Rudolph, Johnson and Joey Porter Jr. drew inquiries.

Which brings up the question our last episode was built around. A week ago the film said Will Howard was the odd man out in a four-man quarterback room, and Dulac reported the team had already decided to keep him — we said cutdown would referee it. Dulac was right. Pittsburgh kept all four quarterbacks — Aaron Rodgers, Rudolph, Howard and Drew Allar — per Varley at Steelers.com. Howard helped his own case in the finale, going 9 of 15 for 69 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception, per Batko; Allar's second half went 9 of 18 for 88 yards. But Batko's read is that the finale wasn't the point: keeping four "would be a surprise if they don't," he wrote, because the team is too high on the young quarterbacks and too uncertain at the position beyond this year — Howard's full-preseason line was 26 of 39 for 229 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, a 67.2 rating against Allar's 87.8 and Rudolph's 101.9. Mike McCarthy's version, per Jim Wexell at Steelers.com: "We've got two veterans that we can win with, and we've got two young guys that we're really excited about their future." One of those veterans is still a theory — only Howard and Allar played quarterback at Buffalo, so Rodgers finished the preseason without taking a snap.

The rest of the ledger, compressed. The team's official accounting, per Varley: 15 players waived and five vested veterans released Sunday — Malik Harrison, Travis Homer, Dean Lowry, Esezi Otomewo and Elandon Roberts — on top of the cuts made Friday and Saturday. Roberts was released Sunday morning, first reported by Adam Schefter, 18 days after signing and after logging 43 snaps in Thursday's finale. And the roster skews young for this franchise: the initial 53 keeps 11 rookies, all 10 draft picks plus Kevin Jobity Jr. as the only undrafted rookie to stick, per Batko.

The status sheet moved in both directions. DeShon Elliott — whose comeback game we covered a week ago — was placed on injured reserve, designated for return, per Varley, nine days after playing his first game since his 2025 knee injury; the team's transaction article gave no injury detail. Porter was activated off the active/physically-unable-to-perform list, per Varley, with his contract situation still open — Bob Labriola at Steelers.com wrote that "all contract talks will cease once the ball is kicked off on Sept. 13 for the regular season opener." Lineman Jack Driscoll went to injured reserve with a return designation and cornerback Donte Kent to the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list, per Varley. At receiver: Michael Pittman Jr. returned to practice last Monday after roughly two weeks out, per the team's camp blog at Steelers.com, and DK Metcalf, asked whether he had any doubt about the September 13 opener, answered "No, sir. No" — that quote is the record; no practice return for Metcalf has been reported. Both made the 53, per Varley.

The finale itself, briefly: Bills 28, Steelers 27 at Highmark Stadium on Thursday, Buffalo winning on a late touchdown drive and a two-point conversion with 1:06 left, per Batko. The play that travels: rookie returner Kaden Wetjen — who a week earlier fumbled one punt and bobbled another — took a punt back 45 yards for a touchdown, per Batko. McCarthy, per Wexell: "He's been under some criticism just for being a young guy [on a] veteran team, so some tough love."

Back in July we previewed Pittsburgh as the division's loudest regression profile — a 7-and-3 record in one-score games and a plus-11 turnover margin, both graded least-repeatable in our data — with the job of outrunning that math handed to Rodgers and a rebuilt receiver room. Last week we wrote the offense would be assembled for the first time in September. Cut day made that official: Rodgers took zero preseason snaps, Pittman has one week of practice back, Metcalf's return to the field is a quote rather than a sighting — and the roster around the experiment got thinner, with Jones traded, the backfield down to two veterans and a rookie, and Elliott off the active list again. Nothing this week disproved the July read. Nothing tested it, either.

What to watch next: the waiver wire clears and the practice squads form behind it — where the 15 waived names land is the next episode's job — and whether Roberts, who as a vested veteran didn't pass through waivers, resurfaces in Pittsburgh — an outcome the beat treats as live, per Carney, but no one's transaction yet. Beyond that: whether Rodgers, Metcalf and Pittman finally share a practice field before the Falcons on September 13, and whether Porter's contract gets resolved before kickoff shuts the window. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._