{"id":273982,"date":"2026-08-28T14:34:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/273982\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T14:34:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:34:33","slug":"3-winners-3-losers-from-steelers-preseason-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/273982\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Winners, 3 Losers From Steelers Preseason Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers closed out their preseason schedule<\/a> with a loss to the Buffalo Bills. <\/p>\n

The loss ended the Steelers’ first preseason under new head coach Mike McCarthy on a sour note, especially after their disappointing performance against the New York Jets a week earlier. <\/p>\n

With the preseason now wrapped up, the focus turns to the 53-man roster. The coaching staff will decide who makes the initial roster, and their decision might be helped by the performance of several key players. These six stood out as the biggest winners and losers in the preseason finale. <\/p>\n

WinnersEli Heidenreich – Local Kid Leaves Big Last Impression<\/p>\n

The Mt. Lebanon High School graduate made the most out of his opportunity. He started the game with an impressive tackle on special teams, and he followed that up with a nice showing on offense. He capped things off with the first touchdown of his NFL career and left an impressive last impression on the coaching staff. He’s still a strong bet to end up on the practice squad when the regular season begins, but the talent and upside is clear. <\/p>\n

D’Shawn Jamison – Making a Case for 53-Man Roster<\/p>\n

In his second season with the Steelers, D’Shawn Jamison continues to show promise. He’s a capable special teams player and has enviable speed. It makes him a great backup in the secondary, and that was on display once again against the Bills. <\/p>\n

A pass breakup in the third quarter was the highlight of his game. Matching up against the speedy rookie, Skyler Bell, Jamison closed on Bell at the top of his route and was able to get a hand in to break up the reception. <\/p>\n

Kaden Wetjen – Rookie Finally Shos Out<\/p>\n

It’s been a tough preseason for the fourth-round wide receiver, but that punt return in the second half was exactly what the Steelers drafted him to do. He made multiple defenders miss and utilized his speed to take it 45 yards into the end zone for the score. It was a noticeably cathartic moment for the rookie and the entire organization, and he now exits the preseason finale as the team’s biggest winner of the game. <\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Aug 27, 2026; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Kaden Wetjen (10) carries the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the third quarter at New Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

LosersKaleb Johnson – Better Luck Next Year<\/p>\n

Kaleb Johnson<\/a> has to hope he is with another franchise as soon as possible, and he just might get his wish. He was a non-factor in the finale, not receiving any significant snaps until the fourth quarter. And when he did receive those carries, it was uneventful. He netted a few positive gains, but nothing to change his standing as a probable cut candidate. <\/p>\n

Broderick Jones – Can’t Find the Fit<\/p>\n

It doesn’t matter if he’s playing on the left or right side, Broderick Jones<\/a> can’t figure it out and the Steelers have to stop letting him try. He looked overwhelmed and outmatched in pass protection and he was unable to set the edge in run blocking. it doesn’t matter that he was a first-round pick or that depth is an issue at offensive line, Jones is not helping the situation one bit. <\/p>\n

Tamon Lynum – Costly DPI <\/p>\n

Undrafted defensive back Tamon Lynum was never roster candidate, but his chances of making the practice squad might have evaporated after a costly penatly. <\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, Lynum took a boneheaded defensive pass interference penalty that put the Bills in scoring range. Buffalo was able to punch in the go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversion, and that falls largely on Lynum’s error. <\/p>\n

Make sure to bookmark Steelers On SI,\u00a0and find our podcast All Steelers Talk on YouTube\u00a0or anywhere you listen!<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers closed out their preseason schedule with a loss to the Buffalo Bills. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-273982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}