Mike McCarthy inherited a playoff roster in Pittsburgh, but one that’s approaching its expiration date in many ways. Many of the Steelers’ best players will soon age out of the league, which presents a unique challenge to McCarthy in his first season with the team.
“There’s a real balance that homecoming Steelers coach Mike McCarthy will have to strike between managing an older roster and establishing his program—generally, Year 1 isn’t when you take the foot off the gas,” Albert Breer wrote via SI.com.
The defense in particular is loaded with players at or well above 30. Cam Heyward leads the way at 37. Joining him in the 30 club are T.J. Watt (31), Jalen Ramsey (31), and Sebastian Joseph-Day (31). DeShon Elliott (29), Jamel Dean (29), and Alex Highsmith (28) aren’t far behind.
The offense skews much younger other than Aaron Rodgers, who is the player in the league at 42.
“The good news is McCarthy has always been willing to change and adapt to the conditions around him, and he’s had veteran teams in the past, which tells me he’ll have a good game plan…Making sure that doesn’t affect the rest of the team will be the tricky part,” Breer wrote.
When Tomlin took over the Steelers in 2007, he held one of the most physically demanding training camps anybody had ever been through. He was trying to prove himself as a new, young head coach in the league. McCarthy doesn’t have the same problem as an 18-year veteran head coach, but he’s already shown signs of a high-intensity program in Pittsburgh.
Coaches aren’t allowed on the field until stretching and warmups are over, allowing for a full two hours of instruction. And those two hours are much more jam-packed with teaching than the way Tomlin used to run things. There are no benches for resting, and every last minute is accounted for.
T.J. Watt said change is good. Will he and other veteran players feel the same way in December after 14 weeks of grinding through the regular season?
If McCarthy adapts and eases off the gas pedal, as Breer suggests, how will that affect the younger players on the roster? Nearly half of Pittsburgh’s projected starters have fewer than four years of NFL experience and still need every rep they can get.
His challenge will be threading the needle—preserving an aging core for a playoff run while managing the younger half of the roster that has players who still need a high volume of reps and intensity to develop properly.