I tried to concentrate on rookies and 2nd-year guys. Didn't look at everyone but here are thoughts on those I did try to analyze (tough without all 22):

Staring with draftees:

Edmunds: looked a bit lost at times but the athleticism is obvious. On more than one occasion he crashed into the line on a running play and got swallowed. Needs to be more patient, trust his front and wait for the play to develop. He had deep coverage on a seam route and did well. QB made a perfect throw but TE couldn't bring down a tough catch. The only minor thing on this: Edmunds has to get head around, he has the speed to make up any gap on TEs. So trust his speed and make a play on the ball. He made one solid tackle on run play at LOS. Outside of that fairly quiet game and without all 22 almost impossible to judge much more.

Washington: the bad: wrong route on at least 2 occasions. the good: got open, and got open deep. The combat catch highlights his physicality. He isn't tall but he is like Ju Ju thick and strong. Though folks are getting excited about that catch the play I liked and showed real progress? When he sat down in the zone, in the hole and gave Qb easy throw for a 1st. It is a minor play, in the grand scheme but it is something Sammie Coates & Alien struggled with.

Rudolph: better than I expected. I was meh on this pick but poise and delivery looked good. Ball security has to be better but that is a relatively easy fix. His throw to Paterson on what looked like a deep/medium hook route was excellent. The skinny post throw that fell incomplete was more a function of Paterson not running route correctly than Rudolph missing the throw. Rudolph also wasn't helped by one bad drop and Washington mucking up his route. Also notable: he doesn't panic when pressure comes. If anything he is a bit to at ease in the pocket and needs to learn to put the rock away when it is collapsing. His throw to Washington highlighted good fundamentals. Used his feet well to sidestep pressure, kept his eyes down the field and put the ball in location only his target could catch. Initially, I'm impressed but it was against backups and work still to be done.

Chuks: first of all he faced a bevy of different pass rushers. I lost count at 5. In the first half especially in pass pro, he was very good. Moved his feet, and used his hands well. Josh Sweat did beat him on one rush but outside of that, he got away with a few holds (who doesn't) & overall looked far more polished than I saw on tape watching him in college. His run blocking needs work, doesn't stay on blocks and finish them. He did so once but it seemed more a function of anger at Steve Means who was giving him issues in the 2nd half. He absolutely destroyed Means on play, couldn't see if it was as a result of a hold but I did see Means flattened with Chuks driving him into the turf.

Marcus Allen: I didn't see much at all so tough to make any sort of evaluation.

Samuels: he looked ok. Tough to tell because by the time he was featured game was over and Eagles were selling out on the run. It meant Samuels was constantly seeing defenders in the backfield and had very little room to do anything.

Frazier: I'll watch him at later date.

2nd Year Guys:

JuJu: yeah this guy might be good.

Conner: so much more explosive into the hole. Remarkable difference from last season. His "attempt" at pass pro was awful and if he wants to see serious time that needs to improve dramatically. Ugly effort.

Sutton: did well. Looks visibly more fluid than last year. He shadowed route well on Int and when QB threw to wrong spot adjusted and made the play. He also tackled better than he did last season.

Dobbs: I will evaluate later. I was spending to much time looking at Chuks.

Brian Allen: quiet but in a good way. Last season he had deer in headlights look but seemed much more assured. Again with all 22 really tough to judge much but what I did see looked good. Secondary looks deeper than it has in years.

Adams: context is needed: 1st real NFL action and was coming off missing several practices. He is a work in progress no doubt about it, especially in Run defense. However, he possesses a rare commodity much sought after in the NFL: bend. He got 4 pressures total and in general gave OTs fits in pass pro. On play Shade Tree sprinted like his life depended on it, it was Adams pass rush that forced QB from the pocket. On another, it was Adams rush that set up Matthew Thomas for what should've been a sack. Overall have to be happy with what he showed.

UDFAs:

Paterson. Been hearing glowing reviews from camp and then he had a poor couple of days. He put that to rest with a very good game. Wasn't great, he needs to fight that defender for the ball on Int. He also needs to run a better skinny post! The catch he made from Rudolph won't get the attention his TD did but it should. He made the grab and took a big hit. He got up and continued playing. I want to see him run a slant or two next game: put the ball in his hands and see what he can do post-catch.

Deebo Jnr: did anyone get serious flashbacks? Well, apart from the age, the kid is 20. I think he is close to a lock to make the roster. Steelers have time to work this kid as he matures and have him hit the weight room. He has some bend and unlike Adams can hold the edge, shed and make plays in running game. Very impressed. Adbenyi is raw, very raw but again with age and patience Steelers might have something.

Matthew Thomas: the athleticism is obvious. He also has a nice pass rush albeit v scrubs. Few things have to trust his instincts more (hesitant as result missed plays he could've made) and needs to wrap better on tackles.

Jake Rodgers (ok 7th rounder with Falcons originally): this guy can play. He isn't overly fluid or nimble but he flat gets it done. Taken a massive step from last season. The OTs situation is looking much better than it did a few months ago.

I didn't get everyone and apologize for that. I'll try my best to look at others next game or when I get time in breaks from trail running, cooking and gardening ...

This is my evaluation and it is done from a non-football expert eye. If others saw different I have zero issue with them saying so and giving reasons why. I'll try to do this each week of pre-season. If folks have players they want me to look at closer, let me know.

Agreed on Okorafor-his feet surprised me and his hands were good. I thought he played well at both tackle positions but he did seem to wear down in the third quarter.
I"m really looking forward to watching him next game

I saw the play you spoke of about Edmunds. He was about 12 yards from the LOS and he read it quickly sidestepped a block and made the tackle for about a yard or two gain. That was an excellent read. Hopefully, we see more of that from him.
The athleticism is there for sure.

Agreed on Washington, clan. He seems to get it and will be a huge intermediate weapon for Ben. That was a big knock I had on Bryant; freak athlete but only wanted to be the home run threat. He was pretty good at the stuff over the middle but just never blossomed into the all around WR threat. I get that part of that was Haley’s dumbass, but Washington seems like more of a Swiss Army knife kind of WR, whereas Bryant was pretty one dimensional.

Ola was going against a former rugby player. I will hold handing him his roster spot until the next game. That being said, Chick should be gone. Brings nothing compared to Adams and Ola.

Fair point.

Rudolph is light years ahead of where Jones was in his first pre-season action. I am not sure he will unseat him as the #2 due to Landry's knowledge of the system (to an extent). What I saw last night tells me at least the kid has potential to be good. Hoping to see more good things next week and beyond. On a side note I rather liked what I saw from Dobbs as well last night he looked a lot better than last pre-season as well. Maybe they all looked better because Fichtner is good at communicating with the QB's.

I watched the game on gamepass and they had the Eagles broadcast and were showing clips of practices from Eagles camp and I also like what their OC Groh was doing when they showed him communicating with the young kid they used in the 2nd half.

Do you think Tomlin will show Chick the door and keep Adams and Ola? His past decisions tell me "No", but I remain hopeful. Same can be said about DHB - he's one of Tomlin's "boys". How does he fit in with Paterson and Tucker making waves? If you expose Paterson or Ola in order to stash them on the practice squad, someone will pick them up. I know that it only the first preseason game, but they showed they have that special "something" that will make them a damn good player.

I think the depth at WR vs the depth at OLB are two different things. i think there is a spot open for either Adams or Ola. If Chick goes there are two. WR is trickier. Patterson will compete with Tevin Jones for a spot. How well the rookies know their routes will be the key. That is why I give Jones the advantage. Hunter is vulnerable. If Patterson can show ability on ST then DHB could be in trouble.

I have said this the last 2 years and been right both times. I'll say it again. DHB is going nowhere. He will be on this team...Tomlin guy.

Haven't rewatched yet.

Going by last night...

Jones is garbage. Dobbs was more consistent. Rudolph is going to give both challenges they may not welcome.

Defense still garbage against the run. The pass defense is decent. The INT's were gifts from average QB's with little game experience.

Conner still has issues with blocking. Not what you want to see in year two. Especially in light of the current Bell scenario playing out. Ben can not get injured.

Fletcher Cox looked like he was mid-season already. DeCastro looked like he just woke up.

Smith-Schuster and outlaw did their best to contribute and made it work despite jones being the QB.

Missing Foster was also a detriment for the Jones led offense. Love Finney but he's was struggling versus the iggles DLine.

The bright spot? ST's looked like they could hold their own for once. Perhaps the new rules will be a blessing for them? Justin Thomas can not return. He struggled all night.

The rest was scrubb versus scrubb football. That said, I'll say the Steelers have better scrubbs than the iggles....

I liked Rudoplh's poise, pocket mobility and touch. Was a little concerned with the arm strength. A lot of the passes didn't have NFL zip to them.

Is Jones garbage? Come on now. If you don't like him fine but blaming Jones for those 2 sacks is pure spite. Nothing he could do about either situation. He made good throws and yes JuJu made a play for him, however, Jones knew it was a free shot and took advantage.

Thanks for posting. You, and a few others make this site bearable. Quality analysis. Thanks.

On the bolded: rather Ben-esque in that regard.

Mason Rudolph is everything Landry Jones isn't.

Confident, poised, aware and accurate.

Zero doubt Rudolph is Ben's successor and he's gonna be real, real good.

Landry just isn't anything special in any way, shape or form.

He has one thing the Steelers value and that's why he'll likely stick.

Experience.

That's it.

Yep.

I know it's only one preseason game but we looked like the same team against the run, which is really bad. Is there anybody still on the street we can bring in or someone we can trade for at ILB?

Assuming Rudolph is a future quality starting QB... I'm still happier with this team's offseason if they had drafted Shaquem Griffin with that pick. Or, better yet, draft Skai Moore with the 7th round pick and brought Frazier as a UDFA.

I guess what I should have wrote it as Jones hasn't progressed at all from what I could see. Most talk about how Ben is much more motivated due to the Rudolph drafting. How about Jones? What's Jones done to ensure he stays on the roster? By the looks of last night? Nothing. Jones looked like he has always looked since taking his first snap in a Steelers uniform. Telegraphing every move, unsure, scared to death in addition to no rhythm to his play. Robotic. Predictable. One might think after 4, 5 years dude would have developed some of those traits even a little. Jones didn't do anything IMO that separated himself from Dobbs or Rudolph. Which when you think about it is amazing by itself. Jones was only missing McDonald, Bell and Brown on that offense last night. That's why I used the "garbage" description. We don't have to agree. Just expressed my opinion. Conner better hurry up and learn how to block in the back field too. The Steelers can't afford for Ben to be injured missing time.

There's usually not a lot to take away from preseason, but I do take note of a few things:
1) run support on defense, as noted....still, lot of starters not out there and you're vanilla

2) the big one, IMO, is SB teams rarely go worse than 2-2, at least. And I think it's because it's an indicator of depth, which will always matter at some point

You put that together, along with your first teams looking good....and I think that is a decent indicator of what can be expected. So back-ups looking good, the other two sides was first team didn't look so hot and there were some holes. But on the former no Ben, AB or Bell...or Vance...

Big takeaway is there looks to be some talent on the depth chart, and some 1st and 2nd stringers better not rest on their laurels. That's good, healthy competition to have.

I agree. I told my dad that I thought that was one of the better preseason games I remember under Tomlin. Dudes were playing fast, physical, going after the ball on offense and defense.

Tomlin’s preseason Steelers have sucked out loud for years. It’s just a preseason game but injuries happen so some of these guys will be lining up when the bullets are flying during the regular season. Have to approach each down like the playoffs are at stake. I hope this carries through to the first game.

The Browns were 4-0 in preseason last year. W-L means nothing. Coaches are looking at players in different situations.

Correct. Absolutely nothing.

I am at the point where I PRAY Dobbs absolutely balls out the rest of the preseason, looking like a young Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana, forcing the Steelers to cut Landry loose.

By the end of this preseason, Rudolph should be able to do everything Landry can and likely more.

Time to cut the cord.