Having made some prominent signings this offseason, Mike Tomlin’s Steelers are looking, once again, like the team to watch this season. While the inclusions of Aaron Rodgers [41], Darius Slay [34], and Jalen Ramsay [30] and longtime Steelers Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt do bring the experience to the roster, they are well into their back-nine of their careers. And if recent reports are anything, the Steelers are set for a massive revamp regardless of how they perform this season.

Once the 2025 season ends, a total of 21 players will hit free agency from Pittsburgh. And considering how GM Omar Khan envisions the rebuild, any extension will be an exception. For the 2026 draft, which is set to take place in Pittsburgh, the Black and Gold boast as many as 12 picks. When talking about the revamp, GM Khan made it clear that he was not willing to sacrifice these picks for a natural youth movement.

“We always kept in mind what our draft capital situation would be next year,” Khan said this Wednesday. “And we are staring at probably 10 to 12 picks next year. We really weren’t willing to stray away from, or give up, too many of those picks… I’m gonna start my meetings with the scouts later this week… They always do great job, work really hard, but we’re just gonna have to work a little harder this year, cause we have lots of picks.”

Doubling down on the vision Steelers’ general manager has for a young team, renowned Pittsburgh insider Mark Kaboly chimed in with why Tomlin’s team is well-prepared to flip the entire locker room upside down. “They got 12 to 13 more [draft picks] this year. Just by natural progression, this roster’s going to be 35% under the age of 24 next year,” Kaboly revealed on Kaboly and Mack Podcast. “So just by naturally going about your business, there’s a youth movement on its way right now.”

The transformation becomes clear when you look at the math – next season will see a staggering 35% of Pittsburgh’s roster playing under the age of 24. That’s nearly four dozen fresh-faced athletes flooding the locker room, with another seven picks available in the 2027 draft. The Steelers are executing a complete philosophical overhaul in how they build their team, breaking from decades of tradition in what might be the franchise’s boldest gamble in recent memory.

This is the Steelers like we’ve never seen them before. While the Rodgers experiment gives them one last chance at glory with this group in 2025, the real revolution starts the moment this season ends. The old Steelers would patch together veteran teams year after year. The new Steelers? They’re building for the future while still chasing wins today.

But not everyone’s convinced this high-wire act will work…

Aaron Rodgers arrives as the Steelers plan for life after him

The Steelers’ all-in push for a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers has football fans split right down the middle. On one side, you’ve got skeptics like ESPN’s Ryan Clark, who can’t shake the feeling this whole move might backfire spectacularly. “Aaron Rodgers signing with the Steelers is the worst-case scenario,” Clark argued. “I think he’ll play good enough, & the team will be just good enough to miss out on a franchise guy next year! One of the greatest players of the era, & one of its greatest head coaches… just years too late.”

But then there’s Mark Kaboly, who sees this game through a completely different lens. On his podcast, the longtime Steelers insider made the case that Pittsburgh isn’t just throwing darts blindfolded here. “They didn’t sacrifice anything to get this done other than potential money that they were going to spend anyway,” Kaboly pointed out. His take? Why not swing for the fences when it costs you nothing but cash you’d burn, anyway?

“In the past, they wouldn’t do anything like this,” Kaboly admitted, sounding almost surprised at the franchise’s new boldness. “So at least they’re trying for something. It might not work out, but at least they’re trying.” That last line might as well be the Steelers’ new motto – because whether this Rodgers experiment crashes or soars, they’re already planning their next move.