NFL football being a weeklong event is almost back. Starting July 28, Pittsburgh will be in training camp, bringing with it the storylines, predictions and everything in between leading into the preseason and regular season.
Now less than a week away, Read & React is here to break down the biggest storylines and camp battles before the black and gold head to Latrobe.
Today, we’ll be starting off on offense:
What changes will Mike McCarthy bring?
RB: It’ll probably take some time before we learn if new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy is
better than what Mike Tomlin was in his last few years in the role, but we should get an idea of what’s different early on.
Even before training camp, we’ve seen some departures from Tomlin’s “CEO” style of head coaching. McCarthy has been much more hands-on with the quarterbacks, and the Steelers’ offense is expected to be largely his, not based on the schemes or play calling of a coordinator.
But training camp should give us an even bigger idea of how the McCarthy era will differ from Tomlin’s. Backs on backers, seven shots and more were all previously staples of Latrobe. Will McCarthy keep those traditions, or bring new ones? Even if they aren’t substantial differences, you could certainly argue that any change should be welcomed given Pittsburgh’s déjà vu season finishes in recent years.
Tomlin was the Steelers’ head coach for nearly 20 years — so much of what we expect from the team each year is based on his philosophies. Some things are bound to be different.
Focusing on the offense specifically, we should see plenty of new things: more 11 personnel, a more varied run scheme, and new passing concepts, pre-snap motions and tendencies.
I’m being purposefully vague just because we don’t fully understand what the McCarthy Steelers will look like yet. But we’ll start getting a good idea come July 28.
A new collection of pass catchers
RP: Last year, the Steelers were woefully unequipped at pass catcher, exemplified by Pittsburgh’s average of 202.4 passing yards per game (22nd in the league) and -0.04 EPA per pass (17th) according Next Gen Stats. Leading up to the 2025 season, the team made a pair of splashy trades for receiver DK Metcalf and tight end Jonnu Smith, but also traded away the gifted but malcontented George Pickens.
Metcalf had moments of brilliance, but was unable to replicate the type of production he had maintained for years in Seattle. He also missed the final two games of the regular season after an avoidable altercation with a fan in Detroit led to a suspension. Behind Metcalf, the depth chart featured a collection of players that more closely resembled a group of Aaron Rodgers’ retired golfing buddies than the depth chart you’d expect of a playoff-caliber team. In particular, Rodgers fruitlessly targeting Marquez Valdes-Scantling on three straight red zone passes late in a loss to the Browns — a game that could have clinched the division with a win, no less — remains seared on my brain like I was trapped in a Stanley Kubrick movie.
Smith, meanwhile, might as well have never suited up at all. He produced just 222 yards and two touchdowns, while providing cover-your-eyes level blocking. Worse still, Smith continued to outsnap both Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington despite his clear and obvious struggles.
With the horrors of last season now behind us, the Steelers should, at least on paper, have a much better-rounded pass-catching group this season thanks to two major additions.
Metcalf returns as the team’s primary X-receiver, and his improved supporting cast should better pair with his skill set and set both him and the offense up for success, namely with vertical concepts that can take advantage of his speed.
Michael Pittman Jr., the Steelers’ latest offseason trade acquisition, mirrors Metcalf in size (6’4, 223 pounds) but wins his contested catch opportunities at a higher clip (52.6% vs 41.8%) and functions best underneath as either a Z-receiver or power slot. The team also drafted rookie Germie Bernard in the second round. Bernard has already received positive reviews from the coaching staff for the professionalism he’s shown during the offseason program, and he figures to be a Swiss-army-knife for the team, capable of playing all three receiving positions, but most likely to be an interchangeable piece with Pittman.
How much McCarthy moves his receivers around, and how well they complement each other — and the tight ends — in the offense will be one of the main things I’m watching for this summer.
Three spots, four quarterbacks
RB: This is more of a battle between two quarterbacks, Mason Rudolph and Will Howard, as barring injury there’s no way the Steelers enter the regular season without their starter, Aaron Rodgers, or a third-round rookie in Drew Allar.
But all four passers have a storyline to follow this summer.
Starting with the aforementioned quarterback battle, it’s fair to say Rudolph has the upper hand headed into training camp as he actually has NFL experience — 19 starts, to be exact — compared to Howard’s zero career NFL snaps. With Howard and Allar’s complete lack of NFL experience, there’s a reason why Rudolph is still on the roster.
At the same time, Howard is still in the first half of a dirt-cheap rookie deal, and he technically has more upside than Rudolph simply by nature of being a complete NFL unknown. Plus, his college career projects him as the sort of capable, long-term QB2 he was seemingly drafted to be. If he can draw even with Rudolph over the summer, he’ll make a strong case to stick around on the 53-man roster.
Of course, the Steelers will also have to think about what their plan of action would be if Rodgers misses time during the 2026 season: See what the young passers can do, or trust that Rudolph can help the team still compete for a playoff spot.
Entering the 2026 season, Allar has some stakes as well. He’s largely expected to stay as the QB3, initially at least, but he’ll want to start showing the “it” factor earlier than later as the Steelers are speeding towards having to gamble on their next franchise quarterback in 2027.
Rodgers has something to prove as well. His 2025 season showed he could still lead a team to the playoffs and make some bonkers throws, but his diminishing creativity as a passer and quick time to throw have been one of the biggest factors in why the Steelers are still widely considered a member of the league’s middle class. Can a reunion with McCarthy, better receiver play, and maybe an improved offensive line (more on that next), help him look a bit more like the four-time MVP of old?
How will the OL starting 5 shake out?
RP: Seemingly three positions on the Pittsburgh line appear to be set: center Zach Frazier, Troy Fautanu flipping to left tackle, and guard Mason McCormick following Fautanu in the transition from the right to left side. While that still is subject to change, it is what we saw during OTAs.
Assuming that holds, it appears the team is prepared to move forward with 2023 seventh-round pick Spencer Anderson at right guard and 2023 UDFA Dylan Cook at right tackle to open camp. Anderson had a breakout season of sorts in 2025, when he became featured in some of the six-lineman jumbo packages the Steelers deployed. Cook took his first NFL game action last year as well, replacing the injured Broderick Jones.
However, the Steelers seem to have plenty of depth along the line this year, and should try to determine what the best combination of players they possess is, regardless of what their initial plans might be.
Jones, a former first-round pick, remains on the roster, though it is unclear how soon he’ll be cleared to fully participate as he works back from a serious neck injury.
The team also drafted another pair of linemen in first-round tackle Max Iheanachor and Gennings Dunker. Iheanachor is relatively new to football, but possesses size, strength, and rare movement ability for a tackle prospect, plus he held his own against second-overall pick David Bailey when the two faced off in college last year. Dunker was part of a decorated Iowa group that won the 2025 Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in college football. Both have the luxury of not needing to play immediately, should the Steelers decide they could benefit from a year of development.
Lastly, the Steelers also brought in interior swingman Brock Hoffman, who played under McCarthy in Dallas. While that move appears to be purely for depth, Hoffman did get a handful of starts in injury relief with the Cowboys.
If either of the rookies, or Hoffman, shows this summer that they are one of the Steelers’ best five linemen, the Steelers should remain open to the idea of a depth chart reshuffling. We’ll see this camp how serious this battle is, or if a battle even exists at all.
A bounce-back season for Pat Freiermuth?
RB: It’s somewhat ironic that former Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who was widely known for his borderline-obsession with using tight ends in his offense, didn’t use Pat Freiermuth enough in 2025.
In fact, Freiermuth still has yet to break, or even come particularly close to, the 732-yard season mark he set in 2022 — under then-coordinator Matt Canada.
After a solid, 653-yard season in 2024, Freiermuth recorded the second-lowest receiving yardage total of his career last year in a 486-yard, four-touchdown effort, despite playing in all 17 games. That was due some to him not always being targeted, but also due to playing time — Freiermuth had the Steelers’ third-most snaps behind Darnell Washington and Jonnu Smith.
All three players were within 25 snaps of each other on the season, but the bigger issue was that Freiermuth was competing so heavily with Smith for playing time. With the latter out of the picture in 2026, Freiermuth should have an easier time claiming the role of the team’s top receiving tight end.
Freiermuth was productive when targeted in 2025, at least, with a career-best 11.9 yards per reception. Just over half of his catches went for first downs.
He was quite the weapon when targeted down the seam, even if that wasn’t accessed by the Steelers nearly enough in 2025. That could change under McCarthy. While the oft-underrated Dak Prescott also deserves plenty of the credit, McCarthy helped jump start the careers of both Dalton Schultz (808 yards in 2021) and Jake Ferguson (761 yards in 2023) during their time in Dallas.
Over the summer, we should get our first impressions of how featured Freiermuth will be in the Steelers’ 2026 offense. Even with a more talented receiving room competing for targets, the sixth-year tight end might be in line for a career resurgence.
And as I did with quarterback, I’ll throw in some smaller storylines — what’s the Steelers’ plan behind Freiermuth and Washington? Will it be Riley Nowakowski as a hybrid fullback/TE3, or can one of Robert Tonyan, Jaheim Bell or J.J. Galbreath make a roster push?
Make-or-break time for Roman Wilson and Kaleb Johnson?
RP: Despite each player being a former third-round pick — a significant investment by most standards — neither Wilson nor Johnson’s career has gotten off to the start they likely envisioned for themselves. Wilson was injured for most of the summer of his rookie season, and has seemingly been fighting an uphill battle for playing time ever since. Last year, Wilson seemed to land in the doghouse with Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback who is notoriously picky/precise about pre-snap route adjustments he communicates to his receivers. As such, Wilson saw the likes of Vales-Scantling and Adam Thielen signed off the street and immediately placed ahead of him in the pecking order.
Likewise, Johnson never really seemed to get his rookie season off the ground. Put into an unfamiliar special teams role, Johnson’s gaffe cost the Steelers an early-season game against the Seahawks, and himself his job as kick returner. With veteran Jaylen Warren the established starter on offense, and Rodgers’ favorite Kenneth Gainwell assuming the primary backup and pass-catching duties at running back, Johnson often found himself a gameday inactive.
Both Wilson and Johnson may have been selected by general manager Omar Khan, but they are Mike Tomlin guys. The NFL is a cutthroat business, and McCarthy and his staff don’t have any extra incentive to give either player the benefit of the doubt if they are unimpressive this summer. While I believe there remains a ton of potential for both young players, the pressure is undoubtedly increasing.
Can either of them leave a lasting impression and earn a larger role? I can’t wait to find out.
What storylines most intrigue you for the 2026 season? Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more. And check out more Steelers Read & React:
