{"id":881231,"date":"2026-05-03T09:57:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/881231\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T09:57:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:57:39","slug":"predicting-the-steelers-week-one-starting-offense-after-the-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/881231\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting the Steelers Week One starting offense after the NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the 2026 NFL draft in the books, we have a fairly clear idea of what the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> roster will look like at the start of the season. We obviously expect there to be some additional moves, including the eventual addition of quarterback Aaron Rodgers<\/a>, but the idea of any other spot getting a starter at this point in the offseason isn’t likely.<\/p>\n

So with that, here’s our post-draft predictions for the Steelers Week One starting offense.<\/p>\n

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Quarterback<\/p>\n

When Rodgers shows up, all will be forgiven and he will be the starter for better or worse.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers<\/p>\n

Running back<\/p>\n

We expect Jaylen Warren<\/a> to be named the starter with Rico Dowdle<\/a> as the No. 2 but look for the two guys to split carries fairly evenly in an offense that wants to run the Football<\/p>\n

Jaylen Warren\/Rico Dowdle<\/p>\n

Wide receiver<\/p>\n

We are listing three players here since running a third wide out is almost base offense in the NFL at this point. This is one area where we can see a rookie, Germie Bernard<\/a>, see a fairly heavy workload in the right matchups.<\/p>\n

DK Metcalf<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Germie Bernard<\/p>\n

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Tight end<\/p>\n

We are counting on 2026 to be a comeback year for Pat Freiermuth<\/a>. We aren’t sure why Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith didn’t use Freiermuth, but we are counting on new head coach Mike McCarthy being smarter than them. Yes, Darnell Washington<\/a> will see the field plenty, and the Steelers will use two tight end sets, but Freiermuth will be the man this season.<\/p>\n

Pat Freiermuth<\/p>\n

Offensive line<\/p>\n

Here is where we expect the most significant amount of change this offseason. With Broderick Jones<\/a>‘ injury issues, there will be a new starting left tackle and with Isaac Seumalo<\/a> gone, there will also be a new left guard. These spots will be highly contested and could come down the final week of preseason.<\/p>\n

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LT – Troy Fautanu<\/a><\/p>\n

LG – Spencer Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

C – Zach Frazier<\/a><\/p>\n

RG – Mason McCormick<\/a><\/p>\n

RT – Max Iheanachor<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Predicting the Steelers Week One starting offense after the NFL Draft<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 NFL draft in the books, we have a fairly clear idea of what the Pittsburgh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1586,465,457,2870,7,26718,9314,1736,21418,11808,1255,6,1551,9073,57,7152,20987,12356,11462],"class_list":["post-881231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-broderick-jones","tag-darnell-washington","tag-dk-metcalf","tag-football","tag-germie-bernard","tag-isaac-seumalo","tag-jaylen-warren","tag-mason-mccormick","tag-michael-pittman-jr","tag-mike-tomlin","tag-nfl","tag-offense","tag-pat-freiermuth","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-rico-dowdle","tag-spencer-anderson","tag-troy-fautanu","tag-zach-frazier"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116510054355240801","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}