The Pittsburgh Steelers have mastered one thing over the years: Winning just enough games in the regular season to stay respectable. January, however, hasn’t been kind to them. Nearly a decade of early playoff exits finally led to a change, with Mike Tomlin stepping aside and Mike McCarthy taking over. That alone screams transition. Around the league, that usually means “rebuild.” But Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t see rebuild as teardown. To him, it’s more about recalibration than starting from scratch.

“I think the other thing to think about, too, is that people say that the Steelers roster is an old roster. And I think that’s said because the kind of leaders or stars are older, right? Cam Heyward, TJ Watt, Aaron Rodgers, Alex Boseworth, things like that,” the Steelers legend said on First Things First when asked about his thoughts on the Steelers’ rebuild. “But the rest of the guys around it, you start looking at guys like Jack Sawyer, Nick Herbig, some of the line, they got a good young line that I kind of like right now, I would add a few pieces to that.”

Roethlisberger’s take on a team’s rebuild might differ from others, and for a very good reason. That’s because rebuilding doesn’t always guarantee you success or a trip to the Super Bowl. We’ve seen the New York Jets rebuilding for ages, but still struggling to make the playoffs. On the other hand, the New England Patriots just needed the right head coach and a talented quarterback, and they’re already in the Super Bowl.

Pittsburgh’s situation, though, is different. The Steelers haven’t been bad; they’ve just been stuck in neutral. Strong regular seasons followed by postseason disappointment, year after year. That’s why Roethlisberger finds the rebuild narrative hard to fully buy into. Yes, the defense leans on veterans like Aaron Rodgers, Cam Heyward, and T.J. Watt. But the roster isn’t as top-heavy or aging as it’s being portrayed.

He pointed to younger pieces: Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer, and Jalen Ramsey as proof that the foundation is already there. Instead of a full reset, Roethlisberger believes McCarthy should keep the veterans in place and prioritize developing the next wave. Less chasing outside veteran help. More investment in what’s already in the building.

“You’ve got guys in there that are veterans, but if you look at this roster, there’s like a really good group of that year two to five that I think is really important,” Roethlisberger added. “I’ve said this a bunch of times now, that teams, I think nowadays, want to get a quarterback and then they want to build around that quarterback. I think it should be the other way around. I think you should build a team to plug a quarterback into because then you can see how it works.”

That philosophy becomes even more relevant with Pittsburgh coming off a season led by 42-year-old Rodgers. Whether he returns for another year remains unclear. And if he doesn’t, Roethlisberger sees that as the right moment to start developing Will Howard, but not by centering the entire rebuild around him.

Instead, he wants McCarthy to insert Howard into a roster that’s already stable and competitive. The veterans are there. The younger talent just needs to be retained and developed. For Roethlisberger, that’s what a rebuild actually looks like. And his reasoning is rooted in experience. When the Steelers drafted him in 2004, they were coming off a disappointing 6–10 season. Tommy Maddox opened the year as QB1, but once an injury forced a change, Roethlisberger stepped in.

The team didn’t reshape itself around a rookie quarterback. It surrounded him with established players. Think of Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward, Alan Faneca, Joey Porter, you name it. The result was immediate. A 13–0 start to his rookie season. A Super Bowl title the very next year. That’s the blueprint Roethlisberger wants McCarthy to follow now. Not a rebuild for the sake of rebuilding.

Just strengthening what’s already there. The veterans will age out eventually, but the priority should be making sure the next core is ready when that happens. Give a young quarterback, whether it’s Howard or someone else, a team that’s prepared to win right away. The logic isn’t complicated. Whether everyone agrees with it is another story. And judging by the mixed reaction to McCarthy’s hiring, not everyone is convinced yet.

Not everyone is convinced about Mike McCarthy

The Steelers moved from a 10–7 head coach in his final season to a 7–10 head coach in his final season. On paper, that alone explains a lot. And it also explains why not everyone welcomed Mike McCarthy as the replacement for Mike Tomlin. McCarthy arrives in Pittsburgh with close to two decades of NFL head coaching experience. But experience, in this case, hasn’t fully quieted the skepticism.

However, he comes in with a strong résumé. McCarthy spent twelve and a half seasons with the Green Bay Packers, posting a 125–77–2 regular-season record and going 10–8 in the playoffs. He helped develop Rodgers into the franchise quarterback, guided him to his first two MVP awards, and won a Super Bowl along the way. Dallas, however, didn’t follow the same script.

With the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy went 49–35 in the regular season but just 1–3 in the postseason. The wins were there. The January success wasn’t. And that’s where much of the frustration surrounding his hiring begins. Yes, McCarthy is known for working with quarterbacks like Rodgers, Brett Favre, and Dak Prescott, but the criticism hasn’t faded. The reasons aren’t complicated. He’s 62. He has just one playoff win since 2017. Technically, that’s still one more than Tomlin over that span. But for a fan base exhausted by postseason stagnation, that distinction hasn’t mattered much.

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“4-13 incoming .. but hey, at least Mike Tomlin isn’t the coach of the Steelers anymore right?” The Steelers’ legend, Le’Veon Bell, remarked.

McCarthy is now the first head coach in franchise history to take over with prior NFL head coaching experience and not be in his thirties. That alone makes the transition feel less like a fresh start and more like a calculated pivot. So the criticism is here. Ben Roethlisberger’s advice is on the table, and the expectations are firmly in place.  Whether McCarthy leads this roster to the Super Bowl is something the league will find out in 2026.