After a busy offseason, there are a lot of new players on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster who fans are excited to see play in 2025. However, if you ask former NFL offensive lineman Brian Baldinger, there’s one unheralded rookie in Pittsburgh who should be on every fan’s radar heading into the new season.
That player would be fifth-round rookie defensive tackle Yahya Black, who starred in his preseason debut against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Black spent five seasons in college with the Iowa Hawkeyes, and in 2024, he racked up 34 tackles, seven of which went for a loss, one sack, two pass deflections, and a fumble forced.
The Steelers selected Black with the hope they could develop him behind the scenes and eventually turn him into a key cog on their defensive line. Black has been a standout performer early in training camp, though, and that continued in the preseason, where he manhandled the Jags’ offensive line during his limited time on the field.
It may have gone unnoticed by some fans, but Baldinger was well aware of Black’s strong outing against the Jaguars. In fact, after seeing what he managed to accomplish in this game, Baldinger went as far as to hit Black with a very impressive label that will surely catch the attention of Pittsburgh’s fan base.
“This is the steal of the fifth round right here. You can tell already,” Baldinger said in a review of Black’s preseason outing vs. Jacksonville that he shared in a post on X.
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With quite a bit of depth on their defensive line already, it may be tough for Black to crack the team’s rotation as a rookie. He’s impressed quite a few people early on, though, and it seems increasingly likely that he will be a part of the team’s initial 53-man roster to start the season.
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