Pittsburgh

Steelers

Whitt will also hold the title of secondary coach. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero was first on the news. He notes that Whitt coached under new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy for 11 seasons in Green Bay. White also spent another three years with McCarthy in Dallas. As expected, McCarthy is getting the band back together in Pittsburgh. Whitt spent the past two years as the Commanders’ defensive coordinator.

Angelichio served as the tight ends coach under Mike McCarthy in Green Bay for three years. He has been in the NFL for nearly two decades and has held the role of tight ends coach for almost his entire pro coaching career, spanning six teams. He also coached college football at Pitt, making this a homecoming of sorts. He now returns to Pittsburgh for the first offensive coordinator gig of his career. It’s safe to assume that McCarthy will serve as the team’s play-caller.

Angelichio was also the Vikings’ passing game coordinator. It was not the most successful season for the Vikings’ passing game, but Angelichio had been in that role since 2022 with previous success from Sam Darnold’s and Kirk Cousins’ offenses. He worked under Mike McCarthy in Green Bay and McCarthy is going back to familiarity with the long-time NFL tight ends coach. According to Kaboly, Angelichio’s deal could be official as soon as Wednesday; he would become the Steelers’ offensive coordinator with McCarthy calling plays.

As has been the norm in Mike McCarthy’s searches this offseason, Angelichio coached under McCarthy in Green Bay. He’s a long-time NFL tight ends coach who has worked with the Buccaneers, Browns, Commanders, and Panthers in addition to the Vikings and Packers. Angelichio has not called plays since he was the offensive coordinator at (wait for it) Ithaca College in the early 2000s, but he wouldn’t have that pressure with the Steelers as McCarthy is expected to call plays.

Per Schultz, Tolzien was considered a top candidate for the Steelers’ OC job under new head coach Mike McCarthy. Instead, he will stay with the Saints, helping to mentor Tyler Shough in his second season. While an OC gig would certainly hasten Tolzien’s rise toward a head coaching job, he has a great setup in New Orleans at the moment. Shough looks like a surprising hit at quarterback and Kellen Moore is a great coach to learn the ropes of calling an NFL offense under. If things go well for the Saints in 2026, Tolzien should get to choose his spot as an OC next year.

Tolzien joined the Saints for the 2025 season, but spent the previous five seasons with the Cowboys as a coaching assistant (2020 to 2022) and later as their QBs coach (2023 to 2024). His time with the Cowboys overlaps with Mike McCarthy’s tenure with the team, and he also spent three seasons with McCarthy while playing for the Packers. From a relationship standpoint, there’s a lot that makes sense about McCarthy’s interest in Tolzien, but this would be his first role as an offensive coordinator should he land the job, which could prove challenging given the current state of the Steelers’ roster.

Smiley coached in the college ranks from 2005-2012 before making the leap to the NFL in 2013 as the Jaguars’ assistant special teams coordinator. He made a lateral move in 2017, joining former Bills head coach Sean McDermott’s staff in the same role. Smiley was then promoted to special teams coordinator in 2022 and served in that role for three seasons.

There’s certainly no denying the Steelers made the playoffs in 2025, but with no quarterback of note on the team and no notable receiver behind DK Metcalf on the depth chart, it’s hard to definitively say the Steelers have a playoff roster in place for next season. Add in two aging veterans on the defensive side in Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt and things get even more complicated. That said, McCarthy said he does not view the Steelers’ job as “a start-over opportunity,” so it will be interesting to see what the team’s roster turnover looks like in the coming months. As was the case with Mike Tomlin for several years, the Steelers still have to find a quarterback who can be a mainstay on the roster for more than two seasons.

The news was broken by Josina Anderson. Graham is only 47 years old but is becoming a coordinating lifer, spending the past four years in Vegas and a year in Miami before that. A Bill Belichick acolyte, Graham’s Steelers connection comes from his year on Mike McCarthy’s Packers staff in 2018. The Raiders’ defense was not “the problem” for the Silver and Black last season, but it certainly wasn’t the solution, either. Graham will have more to work with in the Steel City. It’s not a needle-moving hire, but it’s not a bad move.

This move makes sense for the Steelers, who fielded a very thin wide receiver corps in 2025. Perry, 26, last played regular season snaps with the Saints in 2023, catching 12-of-18 targets for 246 yards and four touchdowns.