The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June, and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets underway next week at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of that, we will preview the team’s offseason roster, three players at a time. This Steelers roster preview, which includes an outlook for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players as the team can carry 91 players during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.
The next three players we preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2025 training camp are Darius Slay, Roc Taylor, and DJ Thomas-Jones.
CB Darius Slay: The Steelers signed Slay to a one-year, $10 million contract early in the offseason and that comes on the heels of the longtime veteran playing his last five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Slay turned 34 in January so there’s a good chance that 2025 will be his final NFL season.
For his NFL career, Slay, who was selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round (36th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State, has registered 619 regular-season tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 28 interceptions, 160 passes defensed, two forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, and one sack. Last season, Slay played in just 14 regular-season games with the Eagles as he missed two contests due to minor injuries and another late in the year to rest for the playoffs.
While Slay has mostly played as an outside cornerback throughout his NFL career, he does have some limited experience playing the slot. He hasn’t, however, logged any special teams snaps since the 2020 season and that’s not surprising due to his age.
A six-time Pro Bowler during long NFL career, Slay was also voted a first-team All-Pro once in 2017 as a member of the Lions. Slay obviously was a member of the Eagles’ Super Bowl-champion team last season and he has played in 11 career playoff games.
Outlook: The Steelers signed Slay to play a huge role in their secondary in 2025. Due to him mainly being an outside cornerback throughout his NFL career, he’ll likely continue playing that position in Pittsburgh and especially when the defense uses any sort of sub-package that includes three or more cornerbacks on the field at the same time.
The Steelers recently traded for veteran CB Jalen Ramsey and on the heels of his acquisition, there’s a good chance that he might end up the team’s starting outside cornerback opposite Joey Porter Jr. whenever base defense is utilized. In sub-packages, Ramsey more than likely will be asked to play in the slot so that Slay can man an outside cornerback position opposite Porter.
Slay does some experience in the slot so don’t be shocked if he’s occasionally used inside in some sub-packages. While it’s very unlikely that Slay will play 100 percent of the team’s defensive snaps on a weekly basis, he still should see quite extensive playing time throughout the regular season. Around 750 defensive snaps in 2025 feels about right for Slay unless he’s asked to play more due to injuries at the cornerback position.
Slay is an intelligent veteran cornerback and he should fit in well with the rebuilt Steelers secondary. It’s worth cautioning, however, that only once during Slay’s NFL career has he registered more than three interceptions in a regular season. He only had one interception in 2024 as a member of the Eagles and that came in the playoffs.
As far as stats go for Slay in 2025, don’t expect gaudy numbers in the takeaway department. He is more of a pass breakup player than anything else at this point of his career.
WR Roc Taylor: One of the Steelers’ original undrafted free agents this offseason, Taylor is a Memphis product. In four seasons at Memphis, Taylor caught 163 passes for 2,375 yards and seven touchdowns in addition to rushing five times for another 12 yards. Twenty-five of his college receptions resulted in gains of 25 yards or longer.
Taylor mostly lined up wide outside during his four college seasons and thus arrives in Pittsburgh with extremely limited slot experience. He projects as an X receiver at the NFL level. Taylor had 13 drops during his college career to go along with a contested-catch percentage of 56.1, according to Pro Football Focus. His average depth of target in college was 13.4 yards and yards per route run was 2.25.
Taylor measured in at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at 6017, 213-pounds with 32 1/4-inch arms and 9-inch hands. He ran his 40-yard-dash in 4.44 seconds, posted a vertical jump of 30.5 inches and a broad jump of 10’02”. At his pro day, Taylor posted a short-shuttle time of 4.31 seconds and a three-cone time of 7.10 seconds.
Altogether, Taylor logged just 32 special teams snaps during his four years at Memphis and most of those came as a member of the kickoff-return team. He enters the NFL without any college return experience.
Outlook: Taylor certainly will be an interesting player to track during training camp and the preseason as he seems to have a little bit of upside when it comes to his abilities as an X receiver. Even so, Taylor should be considered a longshot to make the Steelers’ 53-man roster to open the 2025 regular season and that’s mainly due to the numbers’ game at that position.
Should the Steelers only keep five wide receivers on their initial 53-man roster this year, Taylor’s chances of being one of those five players seems near impossible, especially with him entering the NFL without much college special teams experience. Even if the Steelers keep six wide receivers on their initial 53-man roster, it feels like a few injuries on the depth chart at that position would need to occur for Taylor to land one of those roster spots.
Realistically, Taylor seems like a perfect practice squad candidate for the Steelers for the 2025 regular season. While we wait to see if that’s his ultimate landing spot, he could receive quite a bit of playing time during the preseason. It will be especially interesting to watch this summer if he can change the narrative that’s he’s not any sort of a special teams asset whatsoever.
FB DJ Thomas-Jones: The Steelers signed Thomas-Jones as one of their original undrafted free agents this offseason and that comes on the heels of tight end/fullback having a nice college career at Mississippi and then South Alabama.
Over the span of five college seasons, Thomas-Jones played in 49 games on his way to registering 74 receptions for 659 yards and 11 touchdowns. He only had one reception for 6 yards in the 11 games he played in at Mississippi in his first two college seasons, however.
Used mainly as an in-line tight end throughout his college career, Thomas-Jones measured in at his 2025 college pro day at 6015, 250-pounds with 33 1/8-inch arms and 10-inch hands. He ran his 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds, did 18 reps on the bench, and posted a vertical jump of 35 inches to go along with 10’0″ broad jump. His short-shuttle time was 4.21 seconds and three-cone time was 7.02 seconds.
According to Pro Football Focus, Thomas-Jones lined up in the backfield just less than 90 times in total throughout his college career. PFF also has Thomas-Jones down for just 80 special teams snaps during his college career.
Outlook: The Steelers list Thomas-Jones listed as a fullback on their offseason roster even though it appears as though he did not play that position a ton throughout his college career. The fact that Thomas-Jones was also used in a limited capacity on special teams in college is also a minor red flag associated with him.
At not even 6-2, Thomas-Jones is not an ideal in-line tight end candidate so it will be interesting to see how much he is used in that role during training camp and the preseason. In short, Thomas-Jones seems to have a big uphill battle waiting for him once the Steelers start training camp and especially on the heels of the team trading for TE Jonnu Smith.
The Steelers will obviously keep at least four tight ends on their 53-man roster this year in addition to at least three running backs. While listed as a fullback by the Steelers, Thomas-Jones will likely find it hard fitting into either one or both of those position groups, especially with him not being known as a huge special teams asset.
Thomas-Jones is roughly the same size as TE Connor Heyward so that might be his biggest camp competition this summer. Heyward is a lot more established than the rookie is, and he is a much better special teams player to boot.
It will be quite a shock should Thomas-Jones ultimately make the 53-man roster out of training camp this year. On the surface, it certainly appears as though he will be battling this summer for a practice squad spot. Hold off buying yourself a Thomas-Jones jersey right now as he might just be gone from Pittsburgh completely come Week 1 of the 2025 regular season.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Calvin Anderson, Spencer Anderson, Calvin Austin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Keeanu Benton, Beanie Bishop Jr., Yahya Black
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Chris Boswell, Nick Broeker, Carson Bruener
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Sebastian Castro, Dylan Cook, Domenique Davis
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandin Echols, Daniel Ekuale, DeShon Elliott
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Troy Fautanu, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Zach Frazier
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Pat Freiermuth, Kenneth Gainwell, JJ Galbreath
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Derrick Harmon, Devin Harper, Malik Harrison
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Nick Herbig, Cameron Heyward, Connor Heyward
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Alex Highsmith, Cole Holcomb, Will Howard
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Evan Hull, Max Hurleman, D’Shawn Jamison
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandon Johnson, Kaleb Johnson, Quindell Johnson
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Cameron Johnston, Broderick Jones, Steven Jones
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Donte Kent, Miles Killebrew, Christian Kuntz
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — DeMarvin Leal, Logan Lee, Montana Lemonious-Craig
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Eku Leota, Isaiahh Loudermilk, Dean Lowry
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Ryan McCollum, Mason McCormick, Cameron McCutcheon
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Lance McCutcheon, Kyler McMichael, DK Metcalf
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Scotty Miller, Jeremiah Moon, Doug Nester
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Esezi Otomewo, Cordarrelle Patterson, James Pierre
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Joey Porter Jr., Patrick Queen, Mark Robinson
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Ben Sauls
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Jack Sawyer, Max Scharping, Trey Sermon
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Isaac Seumalo, Ben Skowronek, Jacob Slade
