Steelers Clips
The Steelers hosted veteran safety Jordan Whitehead for a free agent visit on Thursday, according to the NFL personnel notice.
Whitehead, who played at the University of Pittsburgh, recently was cleared to resume his football career.
He also has worked out for the Colts and the Texans.
Whitehead missed all of last season after being seriously injured in a two-vehicle car crash in Tampa on Jan. 4, 2025. He underwent neck surgery, putting his future in doubt.
Dr. Alex Vaccaro, the Eagles’ spine specialist, signed off on Whitehead’s return to play in 2026.
Whitehead, a fourth-round pick in 2018, played five years for the Buccaneers and two for the Jets.
He has played 105 games with 101 starts, totaling 557 tackles, 11 interceptions, 45 passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
The Mike McCarthy era will be different from Mike Tomlin’s 19-year tenure with the Steelers. When training-camp gets rolling, there will be one major change from nearly two decades of Pittsburgh football.
“We won’t do live tackling,” McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday. “No, I’ve done live tackling in the past. . . . Every drill’s been evaluated. There’s a GPS component behind everything that we do. You know, there’s more stress that we need to apply to our training situations than just going the ground. The footwork’s the priority. It always will be about the feet and everything that we do whether tackling, blocking, you know, ball security, all those things. So the footwork component about it is important.”
The balance is preparation and health of the players.
“You have to assess stress in everything you do,” McCarthy said. “That’s [what] I look at as one of the primary responsibilities of being a head coach, and one of the primary focal points of being in charge of a training regimen for your football team. So tackling is a good way to go. I’ve done it. But I feel like, you know, we’ll be able to get it done in in other ways of training, particularly in our tackling drills, in the team drills. So, injuries are part of the game, you know? And I think you’ve clearly got to do the best you can. And it’s a judgment. You try to reduce risk. So — but we will not live tackle. And we’ll have goal-line, but we won’t live tackle. And it is, you know, that’s one of the harder drills to get that done.”
Tomlin preferred live tackling in training camp. In 2017, for example, he said, "[W]e see the benefits” of intense tackling sessions, and “we’ll continue to do what we do.”
The big change last year wasn’t to change what they do but to when they do it. Tomlin moved practice to a hotter part of the day.
“Wasn’t hot enough last year,” Tomlin said about the plans for 2025 training camp. “To be quite honest with you, heat aids in the development of physical conditioning. It makes it a more stressful environment, and that’s what we go to camp for. We go to camp to get better, and if it’s a little bit more miserable late in the day, man, that’s what we want.”
There will be many differences between the two Mikes. Many of them will be noted and studied. And the ultimate test is whether, when it’s time to play games, the Steelers win their first playoff game since the 2016 season, they regress and miss the playoffs, or they continue a trend of one-and-done postseason appearances.
Steelers coach Mike McCarthy generally has carried only three quarterbacks during training camp. He has four in his first season in Pittsburgh.
It’s a unique situation with starter Aaron Rodgers in his final season, and the Steelers evaluating their future at the position.
Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar are behind Rodgers, and the Steelers could keep all four into the season.
“I don’t know why it wouldn’t be [an option],” coach Mike McCarthy said Tuesday, via Chris Adamski of triblive.com. “I’m not philosophically opposed to keeping the best players.”
Rudolph, the nine-year veteran, will start training camp as the No. 2. That is a change from the offseason when Howard received the second-team reps.
“Aaron will take the ‘ones;’ Mason will start out with the second group; and Will and Drew will take the third-group reps,” McCarthy said. “That’s the way we’ll start.”
Allar is a third-round pick who could be the heir apparent. But the Steelers will have to figure out how to get him enough reps for him to be ready to compete in 2027, while getting Rodgers ready to start his final season and Rudolph or Howard ready to back up Rodgers.
“The responsibility to get the starter ready is not only on the quarterback coach and the play caller, but it’s also on the other quarterbacks,” McCarthy said. “And then the starter’s responsibility is to make sure those other three are connected. We’ve got to move the room along.”
The Steelers have added one more player to the active/physically unable to perform list.
Pittsburgh announced cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has been placed on the list, joining defensive back Jalen Ramsey and cornerback Donte Kent.
Per Brooke Pryor of ESPN, Porter aggravated his back during the team’s mobility workout on Tuesday morning.
Pryor also noted that Porter was utilizing an exercise bike on and off during OTAs and minicamp, but the club did not disclose an injury.
It is worth noting that Porter, a second-round pick in the 2023 draft, is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
In 14 games last season, Porter tallied 14 passes defensed with one interception.
After Aaron Rodgers signed with the Steelers in May, he said that the 2026 season will be his final one as an NFL player and nothing has changed about that view over the last few months.
Rodgers’s teammate DK Metcalf told reporters on Tuesday that “people just say things at the beginning of the year” while sharing his belief that the 2026 season could play out in a way that leads the quarterback to say “let’s go out there and do another one.” Rodgers left no wiggle room when it was his own chance to field questions later in the day, however.
“No. Zero debate. Zero,” Rodgers said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.
Rodgers said he thought the 2025 season might be it for him, but Mike McCarthy’s arrival as the team’s head coach shifted things in the other direction. Rodgers said that his stance on retirement isn’t making the start of this camp feel weightier than in the past.
“I thought it might,” Rodgers said. “Last year it felt way more dramatic to me. Like it’s my last arrival to training camp. And this year it doesn’t feel anything. I really don’t — I’m just happy to be out here with the guys. Good to see some of their faces I haven’t seen in a while. Good to see the six guys that went on the trip with us again. I feel like there’s like a tighter bond. They’ll have to bring in some of the other guys who weren’t at that trip, but it was good.”
Should Rodgers and the Steelers have a successful season, there will likely be more questions about a change of heart. Based on Tuesday’s answers, though, there doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite for a 23rd year in the NFL.
One of Pittsburgh’s key defenders is not quite ready for the start of training camp.
General Manager Omar Khan told reporters on Tuesday that defensive back Jalen Ramsey suffered a knee injury during minicamp and is beginning camp on the physically unable to perform list.
Khan noted Ramsey’s injury did not require surgery.
“He’s recovering. It’ll probably be a couple of weeks, if I had to guess, on his return,” Khan said. “We’re just going to be smart about it. He’s a pro. You guys know how hard he works.”
Offensive tackle Broderick Jones, however, has been cleared to practice after he suffered a season-ending neck injury in 2025.
“Obviously, we’re going to be smart in terms of how we progress him,” Khan said of Jones. “But you guys will see him out there on Wednesday.”
Additionally, Khan said cornerback Donte Kent will begin camp on PUP.
The Steelers were undergoing their conditioning tests on Tuesday morning, which could result in more players being placed on a list to start camp.
And then there was one.
Quarterback Drew Allar has signed his rookie deal with the Steelers, the team announced on Friday.
That means Rams quarterback Ty Simpson is the lone remaining unsigned QB from the 2026 draft.
Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck put pen to paper with their respective teams earlier this week.
Allar was the No. 78 overall pick in the third round in April after four seasons at Penn State.
He is one of four in Pittsburgh’s QBs room, along with Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, and Will Howard.
With rookies reporting to training camp on Thursday, the Raiders have taken care of an important piece of business.
No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza has signed his rookie contract, the team announced.
“Let’s get this thing rolling,” Mendoza said in a video released by the team on social media.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network notes Mendoza’s deal is worth $57.27 million, fully guaranteed. The Raiders also hold a fifth-year option on the first-round pick.
Mendoza’s signing should clear the way for Rams quarterback Ty Simpson and Steelers quarterback Drew Allar to also sign their rookie deals. Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck agreed to terms on his four-year rookie contract earlier this week.
On one hand, the NFL has tried to keep the Brian Flores lawsuit from getting to the merits of the claims because it’s the first page from the standard big-company-that-has-been-sued playbook. On the other hand, delaying the Flores case delays the best available path to a long-overdue reckoning.
ESPN, which is now partially owned by the NFL, has posted an article regarding the Rooney Rule. The headline declares that coaches believe the process is “rigged” against them. (It’s refreshing that ESPN has pursued an issue that the league would prefer be ignored; we’ll see whether and to what extent ESPN promotes the article through its endless car wash of shows.)
The starting point, and centerpiece, of the ESPN story is the runaround former Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham experienced after he had served as the league-mandated second minority interview for the Jaguars head-coaching job that went to Liam Coen in early 2025.
It was perceived to be yet another box-checking sham interview, aimed at allowing a team to comply with the Rooney Rule before hiring their preferred candidate.
Here’s the key paragraph from the ESPN article: “More than a dozen minority coaches declined to comment for this story, citing concerns that speaking candidly would jeopardize future opportunities. Among the 13 Black coaches who did speak -- some on the record but most anonymously -- the issue is clear: Even with hiring rules in place, they feel they cannot overcome ownership bias or the long-established relationships that shape hiring.”
Even Graham, who talked about his Jacksonville experience on the record to ESPN last year, declined to comment this time around.
Meanwhile, the NFL faces political pressure to abandon “DEI” efforts, now that the acronym has been morphed into a slur in sheep’s clothing. In Florida, attorney general James Uthmeier has been attacking the NFL over inclusion efforts. Nationally, the political winds continue to blow against the notion of placing diversity above merit. (As Jon Stewart observed earlier this week, “Meritocracy. It is a beautiful word. Where the fuck is it?”)
Back to Flores. Along with Ray Horton and Steve Wilks, Flores has fended off the NFL’s multi-year effort to vacuum their claims into the NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court of arbitration. Now, after more than four years, it’s time to get down to talking to witnesses, gathering documents, and proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the NFL and many if not most of its teams make key hiring decisions with race being, consciously or not, a motivating factor.
It could get messy, but civil litigation is often uncivil. Owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell will be grilled under oath during pre-trial depositions. Some or all of the 25 minority coaches who won’t speak to ESPN reporters will receive a subpoena to testify under oath, which will not only protect them from retaliation but compel them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
The Flores case becomes the only way to allow the facts to be developed, presented, and evaluated. A jury will determine, based on all of the evidence, whether Flores and his colleagues have shown that the NFL’s teams have a longstanding racial bias when it comes to hiring head coaches, offensive coordinators, and General Managers.
Many will say (because they always do) that businesses can hire whomever they choose. That opinion is grossly misinformed; federal law and the laws of many states prevent certain factors from being considered when hiring (and firing) decisions are made.
Real change can be effected in American society in one of three ways: the passage of legislation, the implementation of regulations, or the verdicts rendered through litigation.
That’s why large companies hate lawsuits. They can’t control a process that could force them to change their ways by attaching a massive financial consequence for their past failures to do so.
At some point, the NFL may realize that, win or lose, a public trial in open court will have significant negative consequences. The league and its teams could be tempted to make Flores and company a settlement offer they can’t refuse.
That’s the key. Will the league make an offer so large that the individuals won’t be able to reject it? Will they reject it anyway, realizing that taking their claims all the way to a verdict may be the only way to get the NFL and its teams to finally change their ways?
It’s very good news that Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has reconciled with his family.
Family is everything. No one should be estranged from those who matter most to them. If/when walls are erected, it’s important to find a way to tear them down.
Ian O’Connor of The Athletic, who wrote a biography regarding Rodgers two years ago, reported that Rodgers and his family had been working towards a reconciliation “for a while.”
Per O’Connor, Rodgers invited his parents, Ed and Darla, to his April 2026 induction to the Pleasant Valley High School Hall of Fame. Rodgers introduced his parents to the crowd, and he thanked them for their support.
The reconciliation has its roots in Rodgers seeing, and hugging, his father at the American Century Championship in July 2023. Chronicled in O’Connor’s book, it was their first contact in nearly nine years.
It’s a great development for the Rodgers family, and it’s something that should inspire others who have grown distant from family to find a way back together.
If you’re in a situation like that, make the first move. Chances are that the family member with whom you’ve grown distant would welcome the opportunity to reconnect.
