It used to be the case that Pittsburgh Steelers rookies hardly saw the field unless they were part of special teams units. It’s much harder to not rely on rookie talents in today’s game, for multiple reasons, but they haven’t relied so heavily on a rookie class in a long time as they did during the 2021 season, with seven different players contributing significantly, including five starters.
Four of those starters were on offense. First-round running back Najee Harris has an outside shot of winning Offensive Rookie of the Year, while second-round tight end Pat Freiermuth tied a team rookie tight end touchdown record with seven.