6 Steelers standouts from preseason Week 2 loss to Buccaneers

The Pittsburgh Steelers unfortunately lost 14-17 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their second preseason matchup of 2025 — but some of the overall performances were amazing.

Selected from both sides of the ball, here are six Steelers standouts from the preseason Week 2 contest against the Buccaneers — from possible second-year breakouts to once-injured players looking to kickstart their comeback tour early.

WR Roman Wilson

The second-year Steeler had a preseason game for the ages, leading all wideouts with 72 receiving yards on just two receptions — and he accomplished this feat in the first quarter. If Wilson can replicate even a sliver of his preseason performance with Aaron Rodgers in the regular season, there may be no stopping this future connection.

S Sebastian Castro

Undrafted rookie defensive back Sebastian Castro had a tremendous day on defense — leading the Steelers with five combined tackles, flying all over the field, and hitting ball carriers with some extra umph. It’s hard to imagine Pittsburgh bringing five safeties onto the 53-man roster, but if there were any defender to make an exception for, it would be Castro.

RB Kaleb Johnson

Johnson bounced back in a major way from his disappointing performance in last week’s preseason opener — displaying excellent vision and explosiveness against the Buccaneers while producing 59 yards from scrimmage on just 12 touches.

DE Derrick Harmon

Harmon’s dominance against the Buccaneers on Saturday showed exactly why the Steelers named him the starting defensive end. Strong against both the run and the pass, Harmon bulldozed Buccaneers rookie guard Ben Scott on his highlight play of the night for his first sack as a Steeler — leaving fans hopeful this display of excellence is just a small taste of what’s to come.

RB Lew Nichols

Another running back makes the list — and Nichols was arguably the most surprising of the six. On the run everyone is talking about, Nichols broke tackle after tackle with an incredible display of contact balance on a 37-yard rush — which could have gone for a touchdown if he hadn’t been tripped up.

LB Cole Holcomb

The only Steeler to make the six-standouts list in back-to-back preseason matchups, Holcomb once again silenced any doubters with a strong outing against the Buccaneers. Putting together a four-tackle performance with limited playing time, Holcomb could force the Steelers to give him back his starting inside linebacker role before even playing a regular-season snap.

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This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Steelers WR Roman Wilson leads 6 standouts in Week 2 preseason loss

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