By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA- Mike McCarthy Begins New Era at Steelers Training Camp
For the first time since 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for a season under a new head coach.
Mike McCarthy succeeds Mike Tomlin, who stepped down after 19 seasons in Pittsburgh. McCarthy, a Pittsburgh-area native, now leads his hometown team into training camp at Saint Vincent College and toward the 2026 season.
“Obviously, training camp is here,” McCarthy said. “It’s one of my personal favorite times of year.” McCarthy also praised Saint Vincent College for preparing the facilities for his first camp with the organization.
“They’ve knocked it out of the park, just the setup,” he said. “Coming up here in the spring, I think we were up here on three different occasions, especially with it being Year 1, and they just did a phenomenal job with everything that was asked.”
The 62-year-old previously coached the Green Bay Packers from 2006 through 2018, winning Super Bowl XLV against the Steelers. He later led the Dallas Cowboys from 2020 through 2024. His ties to western Pennsylvania also include serving as a graduate assistant and wide receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1989 through 1992.
Pads Come on Monday
The Steelers will hold their first padded practice Monday, an important early benchmark for McCarthy and his staff.
McCarthy said the opening phase of camp allowed players to review concepts introduced during the offseason. The team’s recent work also emphasized late-game situations.
“I’ve been very pleased with it,” McCarthy said. “I just want to wrap that up today and put a bow on it. The players will be off tomorrow, and then we’ll get going.”
Monday’s session will remain subject to practice-time restrictions, but McCarthy expects the addition of pads to produce a more realistic evaluation environment. Third-down situations will be a major point of emphasis.
“It’ll be good to get the pads on and get into some more realistic football,” he said.
Maximizing Practice Repetitions
One notable feature of McCarthy’s camp is the use of simultaneous 11-on-11 periods, with different groups working side by side. The approach allows more players to receive meaningful repetitions within the time limits established by the collective bargaining agreement.
McCarthy said his practice methodology dates to his early years as Green Bay’s head coach, before the 2011 CBA introduced tighter restrictions.
He credited former mentors Marty Schottenheimer, Paul Hackett and Ray Rhodes with helping shape his program. McCarthy also explained that he has long targeted approximately 3,000 repetitions across the offseason and training camp.
“You could get 1,000 reps in the offseason program,” McCarthy said. “The basis is more from my years as a quarterback coach, because you look at your opportunities: how many reps you can get, how you’re going to dissect that, cut that down and apply that through the offseason, and grow that into training camp.”
That volume is intended to prepare players for an NFL regular season in which an offense or defense can participate in roughly 1,100 snaps.
Revamped Offense Faces Its First Test
Pittsburgh added wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and running back Rico Dowdle in free agency as part of an effort to improve an offense that ranked 25th in the NFL in 2025. The newcomers join the team’s 2026 draft class in learning McCarthy’s system.
Although McCarthy is encouraged by the offense’s mental progress, he stressed that its true evaluation will begin once contact intensifies.
“We’re not ready to take the exam yet, but we’re definitely in a good place,” he said. “It’s about knowing what to do and when to do it.”
Padded practices will allow the coaching staff to evaluate whether the offense can function when defenders disrupt routes, challenge blocks and compress the quarterback’s available time. “The real challenge starts on Monday, when the DBs and the perimeter players can really put their hands on each other,” McCarthy said. “The line of scrimmage has to be established, whether it’s the run-blocking unit, pass protection or the pass rush. That’s when the time clocks really get established, and we’re closer to the fire of real football.”
McCarthy Reunites with Rodgers
McCarthy’s arrival has also reunited him with veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whom he coached for 13 seasons in Green Bay.
Their first partnership included eight consecutive playoff appearances from 2009 through 2016 and a Super Bowl championship. Now they are working together again near the end of Rodgers’ career and at the beginning of a new chapter for the Steelers.
“It’s special,” McCarthy said. “There’s no doubt about it. Trust me, that’s not lost on me. Every day, I think it’s super cool that I get to line up with him one more time.”
With the installation phase nearing completion and padded practices about to begin, McCarthy’s first Steelers training camp is entering a more revealing stage. Monday will provide the clearest indication yet of how his new team is adapting to its system, personnel and expectations.
Notes: The Steelers also announced their Hall of Honor Class of 2026 as CB JT Thomas, OL Craig Wolfley and GM Kevin Colbert got the call. The 2026 Steelers Hall of Honor Induction ceremony will be held on Friday, Sept. 25, at Acrisure Stadium, the weekend the Steelers play host to the Cincinnati Bengals (Sept. 27). “Happy to have a great group of men going into the Steelers Hall of Honor this year, 3 guys who made different contributions but very deserving and happy to have them in.” Said Team president Art Rooney II.
“It’s very humbling, shocking,” said Colbert, “It was very shocking, humbling just to get that call from Art Rooney and to hear that. It’s very touching and I’m appreciative. You don’t expect something like that. It’s hard to comprehend it. I’ve thought about all the great men that have gone into the Hall of Honor, administrators, media, and of course our great alumni players and coaches. And you don’t feel like you belong among that group. It’s just hard to understand that you’ve been selected to be part of that group. Never do you, while you’re working, place yourself thinking about anything like that. And then when it happens, it’s all the more unbelievable.”
Each inductee will receive a replica of a solid steel football, which will replicate the original that was given to Steelers’ founder Arthur J. Rooney Sr. by the United States Steel Corporation and United Steel Workers in 1982 on the team’s 50th Season.
