PITTSBURGH - Steelers training camp opens with a long list of questions, and the biggest ones are spread across the roster. A new head coach and an almost entirely new staff are already enough to make camp worth watching, but the Steelers are also bringing a team full of unsettled jobs and unresolved battles.
The quarterback room is the first place the spotlight lands. Mason Rudolph and Will Howard are set to battle for the backup job behind Rodgers, and the decision could come down to whether Pittsburgh values Rudolph’s experience or Howard’s youth and cheaper salary cap hit.
Rudolph, 31, has starting experience. Howard, entering his second year, has the edge in age and talent, and he looks like the likelier choice unless Rudolph clearly separates himself.
The offensive line has some stability on the left side, where Troy Fautanu is locked in at left tackle, Mason McCormick at left guard and Zach Frazier at center. The uncertainty shifts to the right side, where Spencer Anderson is in the mix at right guard but could be challenged by Brock Hoffman or rookie Gennings Dunker.
At right tackle, Dylan Cook is the incumbent, though first-round pick Max Iheanachor could push for the job right away. That competition is one of the most interesting ones in camp.
At receiver, rookie Germie Bernard is the favorite to land the third spot on the depth chart, but Roman Wilson is still in the picture. Bernard has the edge entering camp, yet Wilson is trying to carve out a bigger role and could make that a tougher decision than it looks on paper. Bernard has plenty of skill and upside, but this battle is far from settled.
Safety may be the thinnest part of the roster. Even with free-agent addition Jaquan Brisker, the group still comes with plenty of uncertainty. Behind the starting duo, there are more questions than answers, and the Steelers can’t feel comfortable unless someone steps forward.
That leaves another rookie quarterback to watch: third-round pick Allar. The Steelers have already signed him, closing out their draft class and adding yet another layer to the quarterback conversation.
The real question is how much upside he brings. He could show up in Latrobe looking like a young player with a path to starting in 2027 or 2028, or he could look like a project that never quite gets finished.
His first NFL training camp will go a long way toward answering that.
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Steelers Just Lost A Quarterback Safety Net Behind Aaron Rodgers
The Steelers had been keeping an eye on Cooper Rush as a possible fallback behind Aaron Rodgers, especially with Mike McCarthys old Dallas connection making him a familiar name in the building. Rush had long looked like the kind of steady veteran who could fit as a practice squad insurance policy if Pittsburgh decided to move on from Mason Rudolph, giving the team a little more certainty in a quarterback room that already had some uncertainty built into it.
Now that option is off the board, and the Steelers are left sorting through a depth chart that still includes Rudolph, Will Howard and Drew Allar behind Rodgers. Rudolph remains the only other quarterback on the roster with game experience, which makes the next roster decision more important than it might have seemed a week ago, especially if the team wants a more proven hand waiting in the wings during cutdown season. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Camp Decision Is Raising Eyebrows For One Frustrating Reason
The Steelers are heading into training camp with a familiar defensive concern hanging over them, even as the methods around it change. After a season in which missed tackles became a recurring issue, the coaching staff is expected to lean on non-contact teaching to clean up fundamentals, using drills and equipment rather than full-speed collisions to sharpen pursuit angles, wrapping up and the decision of when to go low or high.
For a team that prides itself on physical defense, the choice is drawing attention because the problem it is trying to solve is one that usually gets addressed best in live action. Pittsburgh will get plenty of work on technique, but the real question is whether those reps can translate once the pads come on and the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Camp Already Has Fans Watching One Situation Very Closely
The first days of Steelers training camp have already put a familiar pressure point in view, with Joey Porter Jr. opening on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list as the team settles into a new camp routine under Mike McCarthy. Porters status is being treated as precautionary rather than a major setback, but it is still the kind of early-summer note that gets attention in Pittsburgh, especially with Jalen Ramsey and Donte Kent also on the PUP list and the roster battles beginning to take shape around them.
There is a broader backdrop to all of it, too, with the Steelers limiting tackling in camp and trying to manage bodies carefully while the competition ramps up. Aaron Rodgers has also become part of the daily camp conversation, rooming with D.K. Metcalf as the new-look offense takes form, while Kents path looks especially difficult from a roster standpoint. For a team trying to balance health, evaluation, and urgency, the status of the secondary is one of the first things worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]