{"id":754418,"date":"2026-07-10T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/754418\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T10:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T10:00:15","slug":"im-concerned-kevin-clark-sounds-alarm-on-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/754418\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m Concerned’: Kevin Clark Sounds Alarm On Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

With one of their strongest rosters in years, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2026. But not everyone is buying into the positivity. ESPN\u2019s Kevin Clark is sounding the alarm for those expecting Pittsburgh to take a step forward.<\/p>\n

When asked which team he is most concerned about in 2026, Clark didn\u2019t hesitate to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the Pittsburgh Steelers,\u201d Clark said Thursday via ESPN\u2019s First Take<\/a>. \u201cLast week, we talked about teams where I see the check-engine light\u2026I am in the body shop\u2014I\u2019m concerned about the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, you look at some of these numbers last year for Aaron Rodgers, who is one of the most talented guys who\u2019s ever played the position. Still has a lot of good qualities, but he threw the ball quicker and shorter than basically anybody on record in the history of football last year. I don\u2019t think that was an Arthur Smith stat. I don\u2019t think that was a receiver stat, even though he has better receivers this year. I think it was an age stat.\u201d<\/p>\n

At nearly 43 years old, Rodgers is fighting against history. Very few have tried to play quarterback in the NFL at that age, and only Tom Brady has succeeded in any meaningful way. If Rodgers\u2019 issues are a direct result of his unwillingness to get hit and his inability to move, then the quick release and short throws<\/a> won\u2019t improve in 2026. If anything, they may get worse.<\/p>\n

If age is the issue, Bill Walsh himself could be calling the offense, and it wouldn\u2019t matter. The Steelers could assemble Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, and Antonio Brown as their receiving corps, and it still wouldn\u2019t fix the underlying problem. If Rodgers\u2019 limitations force the offense into a \u201ccatch short, run long\u201d approach, Pittsburgh won\u2019t suddenly become one of the league\u2019s most explosive passing units.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou add in the fact that Mike Tomlin is leaving, and Mike McCarthy is not anywhere close to Mike Tomlin as a coach in my book,\u201d Clark said. \u201cYou also add in the fact that the strength of the franchise has been defense for a long time, and that seemed to be trending in the wrong direction last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m just looking at this and if we\u2019re talking about teams that maybe aren\u2019t gonna repeat the success that they had last year, they\u2019re at the top of my list.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tomlin vs. McCarthy point is an interesting debate. Prior to Pittsburgh hiring McCarthy, I pretty easily would have argued Tomlin. Perhaps Tomlin is better overall, but there\u2019s something to be said about a fresh perspective in the locker room, and the chance at a step forward offensively that can reenergize a roster that many felt underperformed last year.<\/p>\n

If the roster truly was underperforming relative to its talent level, that would imply the possibility of a step forward. But just as easily it could fall apart. Change doesn\u2019t automatically mean improvement.<\/p>\n

For those of us who have hope for an improved Steelers team this year, most of that lies in the possibility of Mike McCarthy working his magic and turning this into a legitimate NFL offense. But if Rodgers\u2019 age is really the culprit, then maybe we should be sounding the alarm bell.<\/p>\n

If the offense functions much the same as it did a year ago due to Rodgers\u2019 declining abilities, then it\u2019s up to the defense to make strides. That\u2019s obviously a concern given last year\u2019s monumental disappointment, but new DC Patrick Graham and an improved depth chart bring some hope.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have spent the offseason betting that last year\u2019s struggles are fixable. They changed coaches, added weapons around Rodgers, and invested in improving a defense that fell short of expectations.<\/p>\n

If Clark is right, Pittsburgh is dealing with a problem that isn\u2019t fixable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With one of their strongest rosters in years, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[7144,352,97420,270238,140989,349,99,3795],"class_list":["post-754418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-espn","tag-first-take","tag-kevin-clark","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}