The Pittsburgh Steelers are entering one of the more unique seasons that they will have experienced in the last several decades. The theme of the 2026 offseason for the team has been change. The coaching staff as it saw an overhaul, but the organization was also very aggressive in free agency and a lot of changes occurred to the roster ahead of the upcoming NFL season. The team will soon report to Latrobe, PA for training camp. There are many questions that are going to need to be answered with the franchise going through the amount of change that it did.
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Mike McCarthy and Omar Khan speak during a Steelers press conference.
General Manager Omar Khan did a great job of helping to add talent to the roster as Mike McCarthy begins his tenure in the Steel City. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be reunited with his former NFL head coach and they have a chance to bring their magic to the Black and Gold as they look to find playoff success again. He will also have new weapons at his disposal as they look to have a turnaround on the offensive side of the ball.
Among those weapons is rookie Germie Bernard, who has been working hard this offseason ahead of his first year in the NFL. Michael Pittman Jr. will also be a key piece of the offense in those new weapons as the team looks for improvement from DK Metcalf for his second year with the organization. However, team insider Mark Kaboly was recently on 93.7 The Fan and discussed one key player on offense that he thinks is someone to watch in training camp.
“I would probably have to throw Dylan Cook out there,” Kaboly said. “Because I think that’s his job to lose. Maybe not even his job to lose, he would have to stink and show that the six games last year was just a fluke and [Max] Iheanachor would have to go above and beyond his development so quickly in the process for that to happen.”
Dylan Cook came in and did a tremendous job for the team filling in for the injured Broderick Jones. With Jones future now up in the air, he has the chance to solidify himself as a part of the offensive line, but his play from last year has to translate into 2026. For a team with a quarterback that will turn 43 years old in December, offensive line play is going to have to be a strength in order for him to get the football to his new weapons.
Steelers' Offensive Line Is Biggest Key To Drive Car To Success
While the wide receiver room certainly looks much better on paper entering the 2026 season compared to last year, Rodgers has made it known this will be his final season and will need to be kept upright to see what those wide receivers can do.
The offense needs to turn things around overall as well, especially with McCarthy's reputation as an offensive-minded guy. The team finished in the middle of the league in scoring offense in 2025, but when it came to total offense and passing offense, they were in the bottom half.
In total offense, they saw a 25th place finish with 305.6 yards per game. The passing offense also finished ranked 22nd with 202.4 yards per game in the 2025 NFL season. While they made great strides in terms of adding talent to help take attention from other defenses off of Metcalf, the biggest key to driving the car to success on offense will be for the offensive line to give Rodgers time to get the ball out in 2026.
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Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy smiles with quarterback Aaron Rodgers during OTAs at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in 2026.
McCarthy and Rodgers did some great work together in their time with the Green Bay Packers. That also included a Super Bowl victory, ironically enough, over the Steelers. To make this a success, they do not need to win a Super Bowl, but some playoff success should be a key achievement if they can do that. They will need a guy like Cook to continue to be a stalwart in their offensive line to allow Rodgers to work his magic with his head coach.
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