Steelers Offense Has Massive List of Free Agents in 2025

The Pittsburgh Steelers declining Najee Harris’ fifth-year option was a mild surprise. By doing so, Harris will become a free agent at the end of the 2024 season, but he adds a long list of free agents on Pittsburgh’s offense for the 2025 offseason. Harris’ running mate, Jaylen Warren, is scheduled to be a restricted free agent. Pittsburgh will have the right of first refusal with Warren, which means they will have to pay him significantly more in 2025.

But it goes beyond the running back position, where only Cordarrelle Patterson is under contract past the 2024 season. There are zero quarterbacks under contract in the 2025 season, as the team officially declined Justin Fields’ fifth-year option. Russell Wilson and Kyle Allen are both on just one-year deals, too. In other words, Pittsburgh virtually has very little continuity at running back or quarterback for certain.

Wide receiver? There is more continuity there. George Pickens, Calvin Austin III, and Roman Wilson will be under contract. But the rest of the room will be free agents, which will shake up that room more than enough. However, it does feel like the Steelers are trying to shift that room around with a new philosophy and vision for their future.

Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward will be under contract at the tight end position. But Pat Freiermuth could be in line for an extension this summer. There will be questions about whether that is the right move, but he remains a prime candidate to earn that extension.

The other obvious player who could be an extension candidate? James Daniels. Daniels, Dan Moore Jr., and Nate Herbig are all set to be free agents. But Daniels is a young player, still just 26 years old, and has played quite well since coming over from the Chicago Bears in the 2022 offseason.

Something to consider in all of this is that the guard market exploded this offseason, with Landon Dickerson and Robert Hunt both fetching contracts that pay out to more than $20 million per year, significantly higher than Daniels’ current contract. That’s great news for the player even if it could make negotiations a bit trickier and definitely more expensive but he’s a good player entering his prime which is worth paying for.

Regardless, there’s a lot of change coming to the offense in the 2025 offseason, more than likely. Omar Khan and Andy Weidl are making their stamp on this organization and changing how it does business from the Kevin Colbert days. 2024’s offseason was wild, but 2025 has the chance to be even more eventful with the amount of pending free agents and cap space that the team will have at its disposal.