Steelers Second Year Linebacker Looking Like A Big Steal As He Plays Like A Veteran

The Pittsburgh Steelers may have found the fastest way to make a seventh-round pick look like he has been lying about his résumé. Carson Bruener is entering only his second NFL season, but Patrick Queen says the young linebacker is moving through Pittsburgh’s defense like somebody who has already spent three or four years doing this professionally. For a player who barely touched the field on defense as a rookie, that is a serious jump.

Bruener arrived in Pittsburgh as the 226th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which usually comes with a simple first assignment: survive. He did considerably more than that. Bruener established himself as one of the Steelers’ best special teams players, finished his rookie season with 19 special teams tackles and earned a spot on the PFWA All-Rookie team as a special-teamer.

What he did not get was much defensive work. Pittsburgh’s inside-linebacker room already had established players in front of him, leaving Bruener to build his reputation by covering kicks, tackling in space and making himself difficult to remove from a game-day roster. His rookie season proved he belonged in the league, while his second summer is beginning to answer whether he can belong in the defensive rotation, too.

During a recent interview on Not Just Football, Queen praised the development across Pittsburgh’s entire inside-linebacker room before saving perhaps his most surprising description for Bruener.

“Payton has made a lot of strides from the last time we played ball. But the room is deep. We got Cole [Holcomb] coming back and Cole’s starting to look like his normal self. Carson, who’s still a young guy going into Year 2, but he’s looking like he’d been in it for three or four years… Everybody in our room can go out and ball anywhere,” Queen said.

The names around Bruener make the compliment even more interesting. Queen and Payton Wilson remain Pittsburgh’s starting inside linebackers, while Cole Holcomb brings significant starting experience behind them. The Steelers’ initial depth chart placed Bruener directly behind Queen, meaning the former seventh-rounder is no longer sitting at the bottom of the room hoping somebody notices him.

Bruener’s rookie year made special teams his safest route onto the roster, but that role becomes much more valuable if he turns into a trustworthy defensive option. Special teams specialists always live with a little roster arithmetic hanging over them. A linebacker who can cover kicks, tackle, communicate and also take meaningful defensive snaps gives a coaching staff one player doing several jobs instead of several players fighting over one chair.

Pittsburgh saw a glimpse of that against the Green Bay Packers. Bruener finished the preseason opener with five tackles on defense and another on special teams, enough production that Steelers Digest listed him among the other players considered for its Player of the Week honor. That is a much different August conversation from simply wondering whether his special teams work will keep him active on Sundays.

The progression also fits what Pittsburgh hoped to see entering camp. A look at Bruener’s development framed the next step as proving he could handle real defensive responsibilities after establishing himself on special teams. The physical part was never difficult to imagine. Bruener finished his final college season at Washington with 104 tackles, three interceptions and eight passes defensed, so there was always more linebacker in the package than his rookie NFL role allowed Pittsburgh to show.

The challenge was processing speed. Inside linebackers have to diagnose blocking schemes, fit the run, handle coverage, communicate adjustments and make those decisions before a guard arrives with violent intentions. Doing it on special teams is one thing. Doing it in the middle of an NFL defense is another, which is why Queen comparing Bruener to a third- or fourth-year player is such a useful endorsement.

It suggests Bruener is not merely running around faster or making one splash play every few practices. Veteran-looking linebacker play usually shows up in how quickly a player understands what is happening before the snap turns into a problem. Pittsburgh already knows Bruener will chase the football. The more valuable development is if he knows where it is going before everyone else gets there.

Queen also praised Wilson’s progress and said Holcomb is beginning to look like his old self, so Bruener is not climbing through a weak room. Pittsburgh entered camp with unusual continuity at inside linebacker, returning the same position coach and the core of the 2025 group. Bruener is trying to earn defensive work while the players around him improve, which makes Queen’s comparison harder to dismiss as praise handed out because somebody needed encouragement.

Steelers May Have More Than A Special Teams Ace

Bruener does not need to jump Queen or Wilson for his second season to become a major success. A dependable rotational linebacker who remains one of Pittsburgh’s better special teams players would already be outstanding value from pick No. 226. His rookie year established the floor, and the intriguing part of this camp is how quickly the ceiling appears to be moving.

The preseason gives him a chance to prove Queen’s description survives outside the practice field. Green Bay was an encouraging start, but Pittsburgh still has more opportunities to see Bruener communicate through unfamiliar looks, handle coverage assignments and respond when offenses begin testing him rather than merely allowing him to chase the ball.

His path has changed considerably in one year. Last August, Bruener was the seventh-round rookie trying to make himself indispensable on special teams. Now one of Pittsburgh’s defensive leaders is describing him like someone whose NFL clock is running a few years fast. For a player entering Year 2, looking like Year 4 is a pretty efficient way to make a coaching staff find you more work.

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