3 Biggest Offseason Questions Still Looming for the Pittsburgh Steelers

With all 32 NFL teams preparing for OTAs and mandatory minicamps, Athlon Sports is going under the hood to see what key questions remain for each team before training camps open in July. These questions might not get answered at minicamps, but any opportunity for new coaches to get familiar with their roster, rookies to get a feel for life in the NFL and free agents to get comfortable with a new team can be helpful.

The focus today is on the Pittsburgh Steelers, who finished the 2025 season by snatching the AFC North title and a playoff spot at the buzzer in Week 18, but got destroyed by the Houston Texans in the wild-card round of the postseason. Aaron Rodgers is back for what he says will be the final season of his Hall of Fame career, and the Steelers made some key investments in returning players and key additions this offseason, but winning the division again will be a tall task with reloaded versions of the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals to contend with in 2026.

If the Steelers want to end up back at the top of the division and in the playoffs this year, they'll have to find answers to these three questions:

Does Aaron Rodgers Have Enough Help?

Last year, Rodgers played well enough to sneak the Steelers into the playoffs, barely winning a division that fell well short of league-wide expectations. He didn't have the strongest supporting cast, with an inconsistent ground game, an offensive line that wasn't always reliable, and a receiving corps that lacked any go-to target beyond DK Metcalf. That shouldn't be a problem this year, as the Steelers made significant additions to every offensive unit this offseason.

They added Rico Dowdle to the ground game, who is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons, and spent their first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Arizona State's Max Iheanachor, who has as much potential as any offensive tackle in this year's rookie class. They made huge upgrades at wide receiver, trading for veteran Michael Pittman Jr. (and giving him a hefty contract extension), and added a versatile, pro-ready playmaker in second-round pick Germie Bernard out of Alabama. Surrounding talent shouldn't be a problem for Rodgers and the Steelers offense this time around, but all of those additions will have to live up to their high expectations.

How Much Will New Additions Elevate the Secondary?

Pittsburgh's pass rush is among the league's best, but they've lacked the kind of defensive backfield that can take full advantage of the success they're having up front. To that end, the Steelers added a pair of veterans in free agency, signing cornerback Jamel Dean and safety Jaquan Brisker to bolster the unit at both levels. Both players were effective when healthy at their previous stops, Dean with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Brisker with the Chicago Bears. But avoiding injury has been a consistent chore for Dean, and Brisker played just five games in 2024.

At full strength, Dean should give the Steelers an upgrade at the other outside corner spot opposite Joey Porter Jr., while Brisker immediately becomes the best pure safety on Pittsburgh's roster. If Jalen Ramsey can keep playing at a high level, this unit has the makings of a much-improved group who should be able to capitalize on such a formidable pass rush. But it's all predicated on season-long durability.

Can Mike McCarthy Modernize His Offense?

There's certainly value to be had in reuniting Rodgers and McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl together in Green Bay. But during his most recent head-coaching stint with the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy's offense was often criticized for being too boring and predictable, still built on outdated concepts that had yet to catch up to modern league trends. Those shortcomings failed to maximize the talent on the roster, which ultimately led to his departure.

Now in Pittsburgh, McCarthy will have to prove that he's willing to innovate on his side of the ball, and not assume he can simply run it back with Rodgers and find the same level of success the pair had with the Packers. The familiarity between the two should be a benefit, but if this offense is going to succeed in 2026, it's going to have to reflect the kind of creativity and evolution that can truly challenge the complex defensive approaches the league will throw at them in the present day.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 5:01 AM.