While the NFL playoffs are in full swing, the Pittsburgh Steelers unfortunately aren’t competing for a championship. They got blown out in the first round again, and Mike Tomlin stepped down as their head coach soon after that. Now, the Steelers are hunting for their Tomlin’s replacement. Several candidates are already interviewing for the opening, but there’s no clear front runner yet. It signals the start of a new era in Pittsburgh, but former All-Pro NFL running back Priest Holmes has a bleak outlook on the Steelers’ future.
“Definitely trending down,” Holmes said recently on his Holmes Stretch podcast. “I think they’re gonna be in that state for a while, just with the vacancy with the head coach. Then, you’ve got a quarterback in Aaron Rodgers that’s saying every game is his last game. So, you’re not exactly sure where that is going to end up with the quarterback position.
“You need a true leader. I think a young guy is gonna have to come in there and revamp this team.”
The Steelers could be in for a rough time transitioning from Tomlin to their next head coach, but don’t tell Art Rooney II that. He made it clear in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t want the Steelers to rebuild. While losing Tomlin could lower their ceiling, Rooney still wants the team to be competitive.
It’s far too early to say if the Steelers will be able to accomplish that in 2026. However, they still have some quality players. Cam Heyward was still elite this season, even though he’s near the end of his career. While T.J. Watt wasn’t as dominant, some of that can be blamed on a freak accident injury that kept him out of action down the stretch.
While some of the older players could be on the move with a new regime coming in, the Steelers still have a lot of promising young talent. Joey Porter Jr. looked like a true No. 1 corner in the second half of the season. Nick Herbig continues to impress. The Steelers’ young offensive linemen took nice strides, too.
However, quarterback is the elephant in the room for the Steelers, as Holmes pointed out. Rodgers is a pending free agent, and it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll return to Pittsburgh with Tomlin gone. Even if he does, he’s 42 years old, and there’s no telling if he’ll be able to play at a decent level for an entire season.
There aren’t many other quarterback options available for the Steelers, at least not yet. The free agent pool doesn’t look too enticing, and quarterback doesn’t look like a strength of the draft.
Perhaps the Steelers’ new head coach will keep them competitive, though. The team didn’t experience much fall-off after it went from Bill Cowher to Tomlin. In fact, the Steelers were better in Tomlin’s first year compared to Cowher’s final season. Maybe they’ll experience that kind of improvement again.