The Steelers left Saint Vincent College on Sunday with a clearer picture of who is moving up and who still has ground to make up. Mason Rudolph has separated himself in the backup quarterback battle, Roman Wilson has grabbed the lead at WR3, and the competition for the remaining spots is starting to narrow after three weeks of camp.
That is why the Steelers depth chart is being searched now. The team has two preseason games left, and the players fighting for limited roster spots are running out of time to change the order. Rudolph got the start in the preseason opener and completed 10 of 11 passes, a strong enough night to push him ahead of Howard after Howard had taken second-team work during OTAs.
Rudolph’s edge matters because the backup quarterback job is not the only unresolved question, but it is the one most likely to shape the rest of the roster. The possibility of keeping four quarterbacks appears to be gaining momentum, which means the Steelers may have to make room for a player who is not simply the second man up. Howard’s preseason debut had a clean two-minute drill and a bad third-down decision, a mix that shows why the gap has opened even though he still has a chance to close it.
Wilson has also built a lead that was visible before the opener and confirmed again by the way the offense used him. He got the overwhelming majority of the WR3 snaps in 11 personnel when DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. were healthy, and he put together a strong couple of weeks in Latrobe. That did not make the job official, but it did make the pecking order hard to miss. Germie Bernard, meanwhile, had a strong preseason debut and gave the staff another look when he caught a pass from Rudolph that he could not get his second foot down in the end zone.
The third running back spot remains the most fluid of the group, and special teams may decide it. Travis Homer struggled to pick up a blitz that led to a sack, but he also works as the personal protector on the punt team, which gives him a real edge because that job matters more than carries in that role. Johnson ran twice for three yards against the Packers, while Lew Nichols showed good vision and burst, leaving the door open but not fully settled.
That is where the pressure now lands. Anderson and Hoffman remained the two contenders in a three-man competition entering camp, and Dunker is already a mauling run blocker but still has work to do in pass protection. The final two preseason games will not answer every question, but they should decide whether the Steelers carry four quarterbacks, which receiver holds WR3, and which depth players have done enough to survive the last cut.
