The Pittsburgh Steelers opened coaching camp at Saint Vincent College on Tuesday coming off a division title, a 10-6 season and a full-scale offseason renovation. Fox Sports nonetheless has them twenty fourth within the NFL.
Fox Sports NFL reporter Ralph Vacchiano revealed his coaching camp energy rankings Tuesday morning, nudging Pittsburgh up one spot to No. 24 with +5000 odds to win Super Bowl LXI. That is a strikingly low quantity for a staff that gained the AFC North 9 months in the past.
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The distance between what the Steelers did final season and the place they sit now comes all the way down to a single place. Vacchiano stated as a lot himself.
He listed the quarterback’s age, a backloaded schedule and a division with two groups he considers official contenders. Then got here the road that really stings.
Steelers Power Rankings Slot Exposes The Franchise Quarterback Problem
After acknowledging Pittsburgh is chasing another superb trip with Aaron Rodgers, Vacchiano wrote that the Steelers “should have started rebuilding around a young QB this year.”
The competitors inside the division does the Steelers no favor both. Baltimore checks in third. Cincinnati is tenth. Cleveland, nonetheless checking out a Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders competitors, sits twenty eighth.
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Which means the defending division champion is being projected to complete third in its personal division. Not as a result of the roster received worse. Michael Pittman Jr., Rico Dowdle, Jamel Dean and first-round deal with Max Iheanachor all arrived this offseason, amongst others. Mike Tomlin walked away after 19 years and Mike McCarthy was employed in January to repair an offense that has been damaged since 2021.
The roster is best. The reply at quarterback simply expires in January with no clear reply afterwards.
Steelers Still Have Not Replaced Ben Roethlisberger Five Years Later
This is what makes No. 24 extra fascinating than insulting.
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Since Roethlisberger retired following the 2021 season, Pittsburgh has opened seasons with Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields and Rodgers. Pickett was a first-round decide who lasted two years earlier than requesting out and touchdown in Philadelphia. Russell Wilson and Fields had been one-year stopgaps. Rodgers is a one-year stopgap with a gold jacket ready for him.
The 2026 season marks the primary time in 5 years the Steelers return the identical Week 1 starter. He is 42, and he’s leaving.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor reported from Latrobe on Tuesday that Rodgers dominated out 2027 fully, saying there may be “zero debate” about this being the top. DK Metcalf, his camp roommate, instructed reporters hours earlier he’s not shopping for it.
Behind Rodgers sit Drew Allar, taken 76th total in April, and Will Howard, a 2025 sixth-rounder who misplaced most of his rookie season to harm. McCarthy has already put each by means of his quarterback college. Neither has thrown a regular-season NFL go.
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That is all the case. Pittsburgh has not gained a playoff recreation since 2016, has not drafted a franchise quarterback since 2004, and simply spent one other offseason handing the keys to a veteran on his manner out the door. The Steelers open Sept. 13 at dwelling in opposition to Atlanta with a schedule that will get meaner because it goes.
No. 24 will not be a shot at this roster. It is what a staff seems like after 5 straight years of renting crucial place in sports activities.
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