Honestly, looking at the final pittsburgh steelers player stats for the 2025 season is like reading a Rorschach test. Some fans see a 10-7 record and an AFC North title as a massive overachievement. Others look at that 30-6 thumping by the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round and feel like the whole thing was a house of cards.
It was a weird year.
You had a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers under center, a defense that lived and died by the splash play, and a rushing attack that basically went missing for a month in the middle of the winter. But if you want to understand why Mike Tomlin keeps dragging these teams to winning seasons, you have to look past the win-loss column and into the weird, sometimes contradictory numbers these players put up.
The Rodgers Experiment by the Numbers
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Aaron Rodgers in a Steelers jersey still feels like a fever dream, but he actually played 16 games. He finished with 3,322 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. On paper? That's solid. It's veteran efficiency.
But the "what most people get wrong" part is the mobility. Or the lack of it. Rodgers was sacked 29 times for a loss of 180 yards. While he did sneak in a rushing touchdown, he only managed 61 yards on the ground all year. He wasn't the escape artist he used to be. He was a pure pocket surgeon, and when the pocket collapsed—which happened a lot with a young offensive line—the drive usually ended.
His 65.7% completion rate was respectable, but his 6.7 yards per attempt tells the real story. Arthur Smith’s "West Coast" influenced scheme focused on safe, short-to-intermediate throws. It kept the turnovers low, but it meant the Steelers' offense was often methodical to a fault.
Jaylen Warren and the Vanishing Run Game
Usually, a Pittsburgh offense is built on "bruising" yards. Not this time. The team finished 26th in the league in rushing yards per game. Jaylen Warren was the primary engine, racking up 958 yards on 211 carries. He’s a dog, no doubt. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry and was a nightmare to bring down, leading the team with 23 broken tackles.
Then you have the rookie, Kaleb Johnson.
A lot of people expected him to be the "bell cow" early on.
He wasn't.
He finished with just 69 yards on 28 carries, mostly used in spot duty.
The real secondary threat ended up being Kenneth Gainwell, who acted as a Swiss Army knife. He had 537 rushing yards and actually led the team in receptions with 73. Think about that. A backup running back had more catches than DK Metcalf. That’s a stat that reveals exactly how much Rodgers was checking down to survive.
The Defensive Discrepancy
If you just looked at the yardage, you’d think the Steelers defense was terrible. They gave up 6,068 total yards, ranking 26th in the league. They were 29th against the pass. If you're a stat-head, that looks like a disaster.
But then you look at the "weighty" stats.
- Sacks: 48 (5th in the NFL)
- Interceptions: 15 (8th in the NFL)
- Forced Fumbles: T.J. Watt had 3 on his own.
Alex Highsmith actually led the team in sacks this year with 9.5, edging out Nick Herbig (7.5) and T.J. Watt (7). Wait, Watt only had 7 sacks? Yeah. He was doubled-teamed at a historic rate, which allowed the younger guys like Keeanu Benton (5.5 sacks) to create havoc inside.
💡 You might also like: Boerne High School Football: Why the Greyhounds Are a Texas Powerhouse
The breakout star, though, was the rookie linebacker Payton Wilson. He led the team with 126 total tackles. He was everywhere. He played with a sideline-to-sideline speed that the Steelers haven't had since Ryan Shazier. While Patrick Queen was solid with 120 tackles, Wilson was the one making the game-changing stops in the red zone.
Secondary Struggles and the Ramsey Factor
The Steelers traded for Jalen Ramsey to stabilize a secondary that lost Minkah Fitzpatrick. Ramsey was... fine. He had 88 tackles and 3 sacks, which is high for a corner, but he only had a couple of interceptions. The real issue was depth. When you're 29th in passing yards allowed, it means the "bend but don't break" philosophy is being tested to its absolute limit.
Joey Porter Jr. continued to be a lockdown presence, but teams simply stopped throwing his way. That forced the ball toward the safeties and the nickel corners, where the stats show a lot of "leaking" yardage.
Why the Context of 2025 Matters
The Steelers finished with a +10 point differential. They scored 397 and gave up 387. That is the definition of "playing it close." They won games by being better in the red zone and winning the turnover battle (+12 ratio).
The efficiency stats are where it gets interesting. Despite the low yardage rankings, the Steelers were 18th in scoring percentage per drive. They didn't move the ball far, but when they got into opponent territory, Chris Boswell usually finished the job. Boswell was 27 for 32 on field goals. In a season defined by 3-point margins, those 5 misses were the difference between 10 wins and a potential 12-win season.
Actionable Insights for the 2026 Offseason
If you're looking at where the Steelers go from here based on these numbers, the path is pretty clear.
- Prioritize the Offensive Tackle position: Rodgers (or whoever is next) cannot survive another season with a sack-to-dropback ratio this high.
- Internalize the Defensive Shift: The "Star Power" defense is transitioning to a "Collective Depth" defense. Highsmith and Herbig's production proves that the pass rush doesn't have to start and end with Watt.
- Re-evaluate the WR2 spot: With DK Metcalf drawing the primary coverage, Roman Wilson (166 yards) and Calvin Austin III (372 yards) didn't do enough to take the pressure off.
The pittsburgh steelers player stats from 2025 show a team that has perfected the art of winning while being statistically "outplayed." It’s a sustainable model for making the playoffs, but as the Houston loss showed, it's a tough way to win a Super Bowl.
To dig deeper into these numbers, you should compare the Steelers' defensive success rate against top-10 offenses versus bottom-10 offenses. You'll likely find that their "splash play" reliance works against mediocre quarterbacks but falters against the elite. Analyzing the snap counts of the young offensive linemen will also give you a better idea of who actually improved over the final six weeks of the season.