After our last two editions became impromptu film rooms on the Steelers’ latest big-ticket roster additions, Steelers Read & React is back to its regularly scheduled programming.
As the season inches closer, we’ll be making some way-too-early AFC North predictions, as well as bringing back our “Steelers in review” series in this week’s column.
And as always, feel free to let us know some topic ideas for future R&R topics — we’d love to do a mailbag edition at some point, but we need your questions to do so.
What are your AFC North predictions for the upcoming season?
June and July are some of the toughest months for football writers/content creators. There are no games, we’re still weeks away from any meaningful football being played, and most of the major transactions of the NFL offseason have been made. News at this time of year generally revolves around players who are angling for a new contract, which doesn’t make for the most compelling coverage for you, our audience.
So with that in mind, we decided it was time to break out a tried and true tactic in sports media: We’re gonna make some early predictions based on our gut feelings and vibes. And because we’re certified ball-knowers, there’s surely no way these predictions will look ridiculous if we revisit them in a few months time. Right?
The premise is simple. We’ll each be making three predictions about the Steelers’ AFC North rivals, starting with a tame or mild take, and then ratcheting up the — let’s call it boldness — of each following take. We have to make a prediction about each division rival, so that means no doubling up on any single team. Let’s begin.
RP:
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Mild: Kenny Pickett will start a game against the Steelers.
The Browns are a hard team to make any compelling predictions about, so I’ll use my mild take to predict the Steelers will face off against a familiar face in the regular season.
Cleveland’s quarterback room might be the worst in the league, at least on paper. Joe Flacco, 40, is the presumed Week 1 starter, but how long do we expect that to last? The team also acquired Pickett, 27, and drafted rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
If the Brown’s offense is as bad as I expect, that could lead to Cleveland starting multiple quarterbacks this year.
The Browns face the Steelers in Week 6 (Oct. 12) and Week 17 (Dec. 28). If Pickett survives roster cuts after the preseason — and that’s a big IF — that October 12 game falls on an interesting point in the calendar that could be the sweet spot for a Pickett start. The Browns open the first five weeks against the Bengals, Ravens, Packers, Lions and Vikings. The could very reasonably be 0-5 at that juncture and ready to move on from Flacco as a starter, yet still not trust either of the rookies. Similarly, the December 28 game could see Pickett pressed into action if any of the other quarterbacks have been injured or flamed out spectacularly on the field.
This seems like it could reasonably happen, and perhaps out of morbid curiosity, is a matchup I will be rooting to see.
Medium: The Bengals will miss the playoffs AGAIN.
I’m sticking my Bengals prediction in the medium spice category because of two main factors.
The first is that I truly believe Joe Burrow is one of the five best quarterbacks in the NFL. Pair him with Ja’Marr Chase, one of the league’s most electric playmakers, and there are very few matchups I think they are incapable of winning on any given Sunday.
The second is that the Bengals are one of the worst-run organizations. Predicting this Bengals team will miss the playoffs isn’t that bold because, well, we’ve already seen them do it.
The Bengals' offensive line and overall defense have both steadily deteriorated in the three seasons since their Super Bowl run. This offseason, they ousted defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo after repeatedly failing to restock the defensive cupboards when players they were too cheap to pay would leave to sign elsewhere. They’re also entering year three of contract disputes with standout defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who led the league in sacks last season. And if all that wasn’t enough, the Bengals are struggling to get the pass rusher they drafted in the first round under contract — more on this from Ryland later.
The Bengals can have one of the best offenses in football, but if the defense can’t get a stop, it’s gonna be hard not to fall into the same ruts they have had the past few seasons. That’s why I won’t be shocked when Cincinnati is once again watching the playoffs from their couch.
Spicy: The Ravens will be floating around .500 through October.
Having picked the Ohio teams for my mild and medium takes, I’ve backed myself into a corner here with Baltimore still to go. Predicting regular-season success and accolades for the Ravens is regrettably nothing new for the Steelers’ biggest rivals. Baltimore has won the division two years in a row and in four of the last seven seasons.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson, meanwhile, has won two MVP awards, and there’s a strong case to be made that he was snubbed from winning his third MVP last year due to voter fatigue.
However, it also wouldn’t be a spicy take to predict the Ravens once again fall short of the Super Bowl. While the Ravens are media darlings and frequently predicted to make it to the Super Bowl, they have fallen short time and time again, much to the delight of us Steelers fans.
And while I begrudgingly acknowledge Baltimore should be right in the mix for a third straight division crown, I do think they will have a difficult start to the season.
This is the Ravens’ schedule through Oct. 30:
@ Buffalo
Cleveland
Detroit
@ Kansas City
Houston
Los Angeles Rams
BYE WEEK
Chicago
@ Miami
That’s a pretty tough slate, even with a majority of these games at home. Last year, the Ravens were incredibly fortunate with injury luck, with none of their major contributors on either side of the ball facing any long-term health issues. Can we expect that again even with the Ravens mostly running it back with 18 of their 22 starters on offense and defense returning? Two of their new additions — DeAndre Hopkins and Jaire Alexander — aren’t exactly pictures of health themselves at this stage in their career. Any injuries early in their season to their offensive line or secondary would complicate an already difficult stretch of their season.
With five games against 2024 playoff teams in the first half of the year, not to mention an up and coming Chicago team that could see a leap in productivity under new coach and offensive guru Ben Johnson.
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking — but hey, this is supposed to be my spiciest take — but I think a world exists where the Ravens have four or five losses by Week 10 (at Minnesota), and will be in a dogfight down the stretch.
A man can dream!
RB:
Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images
Mild: Derrick Henry fights off Father Time for another year
This is just tomatoes with some onion and cilantro: the salsa your friend who hates spicy food still orders for some reason. Yep, I’m predicting the player you’re drafting in the first round of your fantasy league this year is going to be pretty good. You heard it here first, folks!
Here’s some Read & React lore, though: Around this time last year, my attempt at a hot take (which I wasn’t even confident about then) was that the Steelers would have the AFC North’s top rushing attack.
The first bit of my logic was correct: Nick Chubb and Zack Moss didn’t scare me heading into 2024. The bad part is, I followed that up by writing: “Lamar Jackson remains the biggest threat as the NFL’s top rushing quarterback, but an aging Derrick Henry isn’t as scary of a running mate as he would’ve been four years ago.”
Whoops.
Thankfully, I hedged it heavily in the next sentence: “The more I write this the less confident I become, but hey, there’s your hot take for the week. I’m just saying there’s a chance.”
But Henry still embarrassed that attempt at a “spicy take” with an age-30 season where he finished fourth in Offensive Player of the Year voting and rushed for a whopping 1,921 yards. The Steelers didn't come close to outrushing the Ravens in 2024 — Baltimore, the league’s top ground game, averaged an insane 60.2 more rushing yards per game than Pittsburgh.
So yeah — I’m not making that mistake twice. Say what you will about the Ravens’ struggles in the playoffs, but that offense is an indisputable juggernaut. And having two elite rushers in the backfield makes life easier for both of them.
Henry will show signs of age eventually. Everyone does. But it turned out that Baltimore was the perfect landing spot for the veteran runner. Even at 31 years old, I expect him to be one of the league’s elite at his position once again.
Medium: The Browns defense underperforms yet again
Coming up with a Browns hot take is near-impossible as Cleveland’s zany offseason at quarterback makes them sort of hot-take-proof. Sometimes you just can’t beat real life.
So instead, I’ll focus on the side of the ball where I expect the Browns to be competent, at least: defense.
There’s a lot of talent on this Cleveland defense. Myles Garrett is elite, Denzel Ward is very good, and early-round rookies Mason Graham and Carson Schwesinger are both players I liked in this year’s draft. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is good at his job, and in 2023, the Browns were the best defense in the league when it came to yards allowed.
But in 2024, the group regressed to the bottom half of the NFL in both yards and points per game to the surprise of most. And that could easily happen again in 2025.
Why? After suffering a down year, I have a hard time seeing the Browns defense having what it takes to return to form after their latest offseason. You know, the one where Garrett himself publicly requested a trade because he didn't see a path to winning the Super Bowl in Cleveland.
Even with Garrett now happy with the team after being made the highest-paid defender in football, it’s hard to see there being much fight in this defense late in the season. The Browns’ offensive situation is going to put the other side of the ball in a bad situation time after time, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this once-heralded unit disappoint once again.
Spicy: The Bengals-Shemar Stewart drama becomes irreparable
OK, here’s attempt No. 2 at a spicy take, even though I’ll still remind the audience that this is in no way a prediction.
But if anything goes absolutely haywire this 2025 NFL season, the most likely contender by far is the current contract negotiations between the Cincinnati Bengals and first-round edge rusher Shemar Stewart.
The TL;DR? The Bengals are trying to implement some stipulations around the guarantees in Stewart’s rookie contract that aren’t all that common for first-rounders. Stewart’s side has, understandably, objected to this language, and neither side has budged one bit since.
In fact, it’s getting worse.
At first, Stewart was at the Bengals facility even though he wasn’t practicing. No alarm bells there. But then, he left the team’s mandatory minicamp over the dispute and hasn’t been back since.
Now, Stewart is back at his college stomping grounds of Texas A&M, sparking rumors that he could try to return to college football in 2025 instead of playing for the Bengals. While not entirely out of the question, it’s currently against NCAA rules — but given Stewart’s very public frustrations with his current team, I don’t blame anyone who sees it as a possibility.
I won’t go that far in this take, but it’ll still be a spicy one: I think this situation is still set to get worse.
For one, Stewart is too entrenched in his position to give in to the Bengals’ demands at this point. And if any team would ruin some much-needed help to one of the league’s worst defenses over some contract minutia, it would be the Cincinnati front office.
Reviewing this handy list from NBC’s Pro Football Talk breaking down Stewart’s options, I think it’s possible that he requests a trade, doesn’t get it, and instead chooses to sit out the entirety of the 2025 season. He couldn’t play in another league that year, college or otherwise, or the Bengals would retain his rights — but plenty of high-profile college athletes sat out the Covid-19 season and still became NFL superstars.
If Stewart pulled that off, he’d be eligible to re-enter the draft in 2026, where he could be the selection of any NFL team — just not the Bengals.
Steelers in review: RG Mason McCormick
Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images
RB: First, let's start with a short recap of McCormick’s Steelers career thus far. The third offensive lineman drafted by the Steelers in 2024, McCormick wasn’t supposed to be in the starting lineup right away, but ended up seeing the fourth-most snaps (939) of any Steeler on offense last year.
An FCS All-American for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, McCormick was a multi-year starter on a team that had more rushing yards than passing yards per game in 2023. He was drafted in the fourth round by Pittsburgh in 2024, but the college left guard soon became a starting NFL right guard following a season-ending injury to James Daniels.
McCormick started 14 games for the Steelers last year, and he appears entrenched in the starting job at right guard entering his second NFL season.
As usual, Ryan and I will be splitting up our analysis. I’ll start off by taking a look at McCormick in the run game.
With an impressive 9.97 RAS and a high-effort play style, McCormick fits the Steelers' offensive identity on paper: the toughness to implement Arthur Smith’s run-heavy vision, but the athleticism to succeed in a zone blocking scheme.
That said, while McCormick has plenty of upside heading into Year 2 as a Steeler, there’s a reason why he wasn’t slated to start immediately after being drafted. The small-school fourth-rounder still has plenty of flaws in his game, and he has work to do to become the type of starter who isn’t in danger of being replaced each offseason.
Let’s start with the good. McCormick is the kind of draft pick you make if you want to energize your offense. He’s a player who lives to hype up his teammates and make his opponents miserable.
Sincerely – I don't know how you value ‘culture changing' players… but the Steelers have transformed the OL with rookie C Zach Frazier and 4th round RG Mason McCormick…
These dudes are nasty… They're chippy… They're maulers… They set the tone – they walk the walk… pic.twitter.com/uYawURxdG3
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) November 18, 2024
McCormick blocks through the whistle, takes joy in getting a few extra shoves in after the tackle, and constantly sprints downfield to follow big plays.
Don't know if there's an advanced stat for being the first one to help a teammate up after a play, but Mason McCormick definitely led the league in it.
— Ryland Bickley (@_Ryland_B) July 17, 2025
Want-to is perhaps more important for success as an offensive lineman than any other position in football, and McCormick seems to have that in spades. Pair that with his elite testing numbers, and you have something to work with even if the results weren’t outstanding as a rookie.
However, that’s the big picture. The details of McCormick’s game remain very, very hit and miss.
Two recurring problems pop up almost immediately: pad level and block sustain. Both are integral aspects of the run game that the rookie repeatedly struggled with last season.
McCormick gets off the snap in a timely manner, but he can lose the leverage battle early due to popping up from his stance too fast. In the first play below, you see him get quickly jolted backwards; in the second, he fails to get any forward push which results in a narrow gap for Najee Harris to run through.
He also struggled a decent amount when it came to holding blocks in the zone running game. His athleticism allows for him to get in great position, but he often lost the rep early. Listed at 315 pounds, McCormick isn’t exactly small, but he’ll have to work on play strength and playing to his size in the upcoming season.
And despite his good testing numbers, he looks noticeably stiff on the field. He lacks the flexibility to succeed mirroring some blocking assignments.
Both of these problems stood out in a common theme of McCormick’s tape: He had a tough time against bigger defensive tackles.
Against linebackers, he was more fun to watch:
Some of McCormick’s better moments in the run game came in his rare usage as a puller in 2024. There, his athleticism and aggression really shine.
Part of me thinks McCormick’s best fit at the NFL level would be in a downhill gap running game, especially as his biggest struggles last season came in the form of sustaining lateral zone blocks.
That’s not the greatest news given offensive coordinator’s Arthur Smith’s tendencies, but it’s not exactly moving mountains to ask him to throw in a few more counter runs in 2025. That would offset Smith’s usual zone runs and play to McCormick’s strengths. And of course, I’d expect some improvement from McCormick as a zone blocker entering Year 2.
But let’s not be overly negative. McCormick still looks like a player who can develop into a long term starter in the pros. Here are two touchdown runs he played a major role in last season that show off his strengths as a player (I meant 2024 in the post):
On the first play, McCormick does a great job sealing off the defensive tackle. He then takes a body blow from the linebacker, but still holds the gap long enough for the score.
In the second clip, he quickly secures the outside shoulder of his blocking assignment and then sticks with it through the entirety of the play. Najee Harris ends up cutting the run back, and McCormick’s efforts allow him to skate into the end zone untouched.
There are problems in McCormick’s game — effort is not one of them.
And finally, my favorite McCormick play I found. I love that you can even see him running across the field to congratulate Harris in the final few frames:
As a rookie, McCormick was thrown into the fire. Not only was he forced to start early, but he wasn’t exactly surrounded by high-level talent to elevate his play. There are even reps from 2024 where McCormick does his job just fine, but the rest of the offense is in pure chaos around him.
The fact that McCormick looked like the highest-energy Steeler on the field at all times, despite this, is encouraging. He’s ridiculously easy to root for.
Still, I came away a little lower on his game than I expected after doing this deep dive. But McCormick’s highs were very high and the lows remain fixable. I’m looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table in 2025.
RP: McCormick’s reputation as a mauler was one of the reasons he was one of my favorite interior line prospects in 2024. With the mean streak in his game that Ryland alluded to earlier, it’d be easy to assume that McCormick is your classic road grader who, even with the technical flaws Bickley pointed out, is better suited in the run game than in pass pro.
Au contraire.
According to PFF’s grading, McCormick ranked 37th in pass blocking among guards with at least 700 snaps, and he allowed the 14th-fewest pressures (21). And while McCormick occasionally showed some of the same technical flaws that Bickley highlighted, he allowed only two sacks over 523 snaps in pass protection. That tied him for the 13th-fewest among NFL guards, with 10 players allowing a single sack and only Buffalo’s O’Cyrus Torrence and Jacksonville’s Brandon Scherff blanking defenders for the entire season.
Let’s start with the bad. Both of McCormick’s allowed sacks came against the Ravens in Week 16. The two ways he lost in the clips below encapsulate how defenders beat McCormick when he did lose a rep: leverage/pad issues and miscommunications on stunts and twists.
Mason McCormick was only charged with 2 sacks allowed in all of 2024. Both of them came in WK16 vs. Baltimore
The first one is definitely on MM as Michael Pierce okie dokes him with a swim move to catch him lunging.
The second? I actually think MM handles well and would tag BJ pic.twitter.com/vXqRmyfOJZ
— Ryan Parish (@RyanParishmedia) July 17, 2025
In the first rep in the clip above, McCormick’s issues with pad height and leverage once again rear their ugly head. The Steelers are running a play action. McCormick attempts to sell the run and quickly moves laterally, but gets too high with his pad level. That’s a death sentence against a wily eighth-year vet like Michael Pierce, who catches McCormick lunging towards him and hits him with a filthy swim move. Broderick Jones does a good job of picking up Pierce initially, but he’s not able to maintain his block. To McCormick's credit, he makes a valiant effort to reposition himself after the initial loss, but he wasn’t quite quick enough to recover.
In the second play, I actually think McCormick does a pretty solid job. He steers Kyle Van Noy wide, getting the defender off balance and passing him off to Jones, who should have been able to finish him off, but instead barely lays a finger on him. McCormick then switches and picks up Nnamdi Madubuike, who is looping around on a delayed rush. While McCormick isn’t able to fully block Madubuike, he does a decent job of steering the pass rusher in a way that allows Wilson to step up in the pocket. Unfortunately, Jones fails to contain Van Noy, who is able to wrap up Wilson as he steps forward and delay him long enough for Madubuike to catch up from behind and assist in the sack.
Go through McCormick’s 2024 tape, and that pretty neatly summarizes the two ways he loses in pass pro. It should be encouraging to Steelers fans that he isn’t getting walked down by stronger defenders or frequently beaten off the snap. McCormick is plenty agile, and it shows even in plays where he’s made a mistake. Watch both of those Baltimore reps again, and you can see how close he was to recovering on both plays. There are no moral victories, of course, but I still prefer to see that on tape than a player who is completely out of the play, looking lost or defeated.
Plus, as frustrating as his pad level could be at times, it’s worth remembering McCormick was a rookie who wasn’t expected to play last year. That he was performing as well as he was should be exciting. When McCormick’s fundamentals are right, he can stone defensive tackles.
As we noted before, McCormick can struggle at times with his pad level. However, there is reason to believe he can work on that. Here low man wins and he fends off an attempted club move from Davis to hold up in pass pro pic.twitter.com/WiHvzztxJ5
— Ryan Parish (@RyanParishmedia) October 5, 2024
McCormick seemed to get better as the season wore on, and he had one of his most impressive performances against stiff competition. The Eagles’ defensive line was nasty in 2024 and is one of the reasons they won the Super Bowl, embarrassing the Chiefs in a game that was never close.
When Pittsburgh played Philadelphia in Week 15, McCormick didn’t allow a single pressure on the quarterback. Yes, some of that was due to the Steelers' blocking scheme often calling for double teams in the interior, but McCormick handles his business against the ever-dangerous Jalen Carter in the reel below
McCormick's game against PHI was one of his better performances of the year. The Eagles had one of the league's nastiest D-lines and MM didn't allow a single pressure all game per PFF
Some of that was the game plan (like double teams) but MM held his own against Jalen Carter pic.twitter.com/44sZWsPeHa
— Ryan Parish (@RyanParishmedia) July 17, 2025
In the end, I come away with almost the exact opposite of what Ryland expressed about McCormick in the run game. While Aaron Rodgers playing behind Pittsburgh’s tackles might still be a concern, I’m actually pretty optimistic about McCormick’s pass protection heading into year two. If he can continue to add play strength to sustain blocks, clean up his lapses in pad height, and maintain his low pressure and sack rates, McCormick looks poised to be among the league’s best in the passing game.
Join in on Steelers R&R by sharing your takes on this week’s topics. Give us your three “hot takes” for the AFC North. And what do you think of Mason McCormick? Let us know in the comments! Feel free to pitch future questions in the comment section or on Twitter/X: tag @_Ryland_B or @RyanParishMedia, or email us at steelersreadnreact@gmail.com.
