Steelers captain puts his house on market in Pittsburgh with free-agency exit now expected

The Pittsburgh Steelers have to make a ton of decisions on pending free agents, especially with a new coaching staff taking over. Does the franchise want to continue the trend that the previous regime set of getting older and more experienced, or does the front office now want to get younger and faster? With the NFL Scouting Combine full of speed, the team in the Steel City may be forced to go with the trends and let many veterans leave on the open market as it aggressively retools to try and build a Super Bowl contender as soon as possible. 

It already seems like the Mike McCarthy era will begin with a new philosophy for building the roster. Joyce Hanz of TribLive reported that a team captain seems to have already accepted the fact that he will not be brought back due to the fact that he has put his home up for sale and moved to Florida until a new team offers him a contract. 

"The home of a Pittsburgh Steelers player is on the market in Cecil, Washington County," Hanz wrote. "Safety and special teams player Miles Killebrew played five games last season before suffering a knee injury. Piatt Sotheby representative Sal Bucci confirmed Killebrew has relocated to Tampa and the home is listed at $659,000 at 2028 Dantry Drive."

The Steelers fell in love with Miles Killebrew shortly after signing him in 2021, as he became an absolute menace in the punt-block game. He became an all-around special teamer who Mike Tomlin refused to let go of. He made back-to-back Pro Bowls while also being a first-team All-Pro in 2023. Despite the fact that he was not very good at safety, he became a team favorite and a guy whom many young players looked up to. 

As mentioned before, Killebrew suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 6, and it is believed that poor, unplayable field conditions caused that to happen. It was never specified exactly what the injury was, but it's safe to say that something was torn. Non-contact season-ending injuries usually happen due to a torn muscle in the knee or ankle, and that was the case here.

Killebrew will be 33 in May, and he's coming off that major injury. With all that in mind, it makes total sense why the Steelers and general manager Omar Khan would want to move on. The older you get, the harder it is to get back to full strength after something like that. Plus, special teams aces are replaceable. It may be a cruel end to a highly respected player and team captain, but that's the nature of the National Football League. 

Steelers were able to groom new captain after Miles Killebrew's injury

After Killebrew went down, linebacker Payton Wilson was named interim special teams captain. Throughout the season, he was learning how to be a proper leader while getting lots of advice from his captain. For a second-year player, he seemed to fit into that role well, and if he continues to be a rotational piece at the linebacker position, he will likely be the front-runner to have that title full-time in 2026 and beyond. 

If Wilson does win that title, 2026 will be a big test for him. Killebrew was able to coach him throughout the 2025 campaign, but expectations are that he will not return to the team. The former third-round pick will have to figure out how to be a proper leader and captain on his own. If he develops well, he could take that knowledge and maybe become a defensive captain sometime in the future as well.