The Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp will start on July 28, with both veterans and rookies required to report to Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania.

2025 was a mediocre season, if you ask Steelers fans. Pittsburgh finished the season at 10-7, making the AFC Wild Card round, but ended up getting blown out at home to the Houston Texans, 30-6. The Texans’ defense engulfed the Steelers’ offense, scoring two touchdowns off turnovers and holding the Pittsburgh offense to 175 total yards.

The Steelers have made significant changes to ensure that doesn’t happen again in 2026. With training camp beginning in seven days, here’s everything you need to know about the Pittsburgh Steelers before July 28th.

The New Additions

The biggest addition for Pittsburgh this offseason is head coach Mike McCarthy. After 19 seasons, the Steelers parted ways with Mike Tomlin, who stepped down following the playoff loss. McCarthy immediately hired former Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to man his defense, while he focuses on the offense.

One of the first moves the Steelers made this offseason was trading for Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. to help boost the offense. Pittman finished 2025 with 784 yards and seven touchdowns. The team gave up a 2026 sixth-round draft pick to make the deal happen and gave Pittman a three-year contract extension.

Along with Pittman, the team added former Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle, who rushed for over 1,000 yards and one touchdown for the Panthers. He’ll join a running back room with Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson.

While Pittsburgh’s defense has been the bright spot throughout the Tomlin era, McCarthy made sure to keep that a constant. The team went out and signed Jaquan Brisker, Jamel Dean and Sebastian Joseph-Day in free agency. Dean has been one of the more underrated corners in the league for years now and finished 2025 with nine passes defended and three interceptions.

The offensive overhaul continued in the draft. The team selected Max Iheanachor and Gennings Dunker to give some depth to their offensive line. For the skill positions, they selected Germie Bernard, Kaden Wetjen, Eli Heidenreich and Riley Nowakowski. The Steelers knew their offense needed a boost, addressing it in the draft and through free agency.

Quaterbacks

Even with losing a head coach who was tenured for 19 years, it felt like the biggest story for the Steelers this offseason was Aaron Rodgers. It was unclear if he’d come back to the Steelers after 2025, and he didn’t give them an answer until the middle of May.

With that uncertainty, the Steelers took Drew Allar in the third round of the draft to give them a quaterback room of Rodgers, Allar, Mason Rudolph and Will Howard, who was taken in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

McCarthy and Rodgers are reunited, which will be a main talking point surrounding the Steelers throughout training camp. The hope is the two can recreate some of the magic they had in Green Bay, and get this Steelers offense from mediocre to one of the league’s best in 2026.

Rebuilt Offense

We’ve hinted at it throughout this entire article, but the Steelers offense has been a major point of emphasis this entire offseason. At least 10 new faces are being added to an offense that finished 25th in terms of yards per game in 2025.

Playmakers are simply what this team needed last season. The Steelers have an explosive play rate of 5.3 percent, which was around the middle of the pack in the league. The signing of Dowdle helped with that, with him having an explosive rate of 8.47 percent of his runs, which ranks 13th in the league for backs with at least 100 carries last season. Pittman averages 10.8 yards per reception in his career, signaling he can be a chain mover in this offense.

We all know the type of weapon DK Metcalf can be, and last season he was the only real threat in the Steelers offense; it made defenses key on him, limiting what he can do. With the added talent, the Steelers can make a jump to at least a top 15 offense in terms of yards per game.

That all hinges on one man, though, and it’s Rodgers. He’s no doubt one of the greatest quarterbacks this league has ever seen, but he hasn’t played like that in recent years. Rodgers simply isn’t pushing the ball down the field like he used to. His air yards per attempt last season were 5.9, which ranked 33rd in the league. With weapons like Metcalf, Pittman and Bernard, they excel in the intermediate/deep levels of the field; short passes aren’t their specialty.

Now the Steelers have weapons like Dowdle, Roman Wilson, Wetjen and Heidenriech who are great in the short-area game, but with the additions they’ve made. This is an offense that needs to push the ball down the field.

It’s not like the Steelers ‘ offensive line was one of the worst in the league last season. They had the lowest quaterback pressure rate in the league last year and gave up 31 sacks, which ranked 24th in the league. A main portion of that is Rodgers got the ball out quickly, in fact a league-high 2.59 seconds. When Rodgers gets pressured, he’s going down; he doesn’t have the body to avoid pressure like he used to. So he negates that by getting the ball out quickly on shorter routes.

The dynamic will be interesting to watch as it all unfolds, but it’s clear the Steelers hope McCarthy can work some magic on this offense with the new pieces it has.

Position Battles to Watch

Right Tackle 

With Broderick Jones battling a neck injury that kept him out for the majority of the 2025 season, he may start 2026 on the injured reserve list. That leaves the right tackle spot open for either Iheanachor or Dylan Cook to start.

Troy Fautanu has been the right tackle for Pittsburgh, but they plan to move him over to left after selecting Iheanachor. Iheanachor ran a 4.91 40-yard dash at 6-foot-6, 321 pounds, which is why the Steelers took him in the first round. His limited football experience is why he was viewed as a project coming out of Arizona State, which is why the team may start Cook at the beginning of training camp.

Running back 

Now with the rest of the roster, there isn’t a clear position battle, but who will be that No. 1 back come Week 1? Dowdle flashed his big-play ability in Carolina last season, but the Panthers didn’t give him the main workload all season, which is why he left.

Then you have Warren, who’s slowly become Pittsburgh’s main guy in the backfield. Last season was his best in terms of scrimmage yards, having 1,291 and eight total touchdowns.

Lastly, Johnson was taken in the third round of the 2025 draft for his ability to work in zone schemes at Iowa. He only saw 28 attempts in 2025, but could carve out a larger role in his second year. If one thing is clear, Pittsburgh has options at the running back position, but who will get that No. 1 spot?

Back-up Quarterback 

We all know Rogers will be the quarterback for the season, but who will back him up?

The Steelers have invested draft capital in two straight drafts at the quaterback position with Allar and Howard. Both showed flashes in their college tape, but Howard is likely more ready to take NFL snaps at this moment. Allar is viewed as a major project with his big arm, but sloppy mechanics when throwing the football. It’s a project that McCarthy seems excited to take on, but you’d have to imagine he wouldn’t be the backup going into 2026.

That leaves it to Howard or Rudolph. Rudolph has been Pittsburgh’s backup for the majority of his career. He had a short stint with the Tennessee Titans in 2024, but found his way back to Pittsburgh before 2025. He has the most NFL experience, which could make him the favorite to win the role.

The next question is: will the Steelers have four quarterbacks on the roster going into 2026? The most you see is typically three for NFL rosters, but will the Steelers make it four? Likely not, so one of these guys will be the odd man out. Does McCarthy lean into youth, keeping Allar and Howard? Or does he give up on Howard, whom he didn’t draft a year ago? It’s a situation that will play out for weeks to come in Pennsylvania.