The Steelers made a major change to the franchise when they parted ways with Mike Tomlin and hired Mike McCarthy as their new head coach last month and McCarthy has completed one big step by completing the construction of his first coaching staff in Pittsburgh.
Most of the Steelers’ hires had already been announced, but the team confirmed that they have hired assistant offensive line coach Jahri Evans and senior offensive assistant Frank Cignetti Jr. on Thursday. Evans was a Hall of Fame finalist this year for his work as an offensive lineman and he has been coaching for the Saints. Cignetti, who is the brother of Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, was the offensive coordinator at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2025. He previously coached at Pitt and Boston College, and he also has NFL experience with the Packers, Giants and Rams.
The rest of the offensive staff is offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio, quarterbacks coach Tom Arth, offensive line coach James Campen, running backs coach Ramon Chinyoung, wide receiver coach Adam Henry, tight ends coach Robert Kugler, game management/quarterbacks coach Tim Berbenich, and quality control coach Eric Simonelli.
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham heads up a defensive staff that includes assistant head coach/secondary coach Joe Whitt, defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Jason Simmons, defensive line coach Domata Peko, outside linebackers coach C.J. Ah You, inside linebackers coach Scott McCurley, defensive assistant Shawn Howe, and defensive assistant Pat Reilly.
The staff also includes special teams coordinator Danny Crossman, senior special teams assistant Derius Swinton, chief of staff Steve Scarnecchia, head strength and conditioning coach Mark Lovat, director of performance integration/sports science Grant Thorne, strength and conditioning assistant Justus Galac, and strength and conditioning assistant Abe Munayer.
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Veteran NFL wide receiver Miles Boykin has announced his retirement.
“I’m beyond grateful for the sport of football,” Boykin wrote on social media. “Thanks to my coaches, teammates and fans for their support. My family and friends, I appreciate your constant encouragement. This sport has taught me so many lessons, and I don’t know where I would be without it! I’m excited for this new chapter in my life and can’t wait to see where it takes me!”
Boykin, 29, has not played since 2023 with the Steelers. But he was on the practice squad of the Giants and Seahawks in 2024 and the Bears in 2025.
He entered the NFL as a third-round pick of the Ravens in 2019.
Boykin played three seasons with the Ravens and two with the Steelers and totaled 38 catches for 498 yards and seven touchdowns in 73 games. He added 17 special teams tackles in his career.
Joey Porter Sr. and Ben Roethlisberger were teammates on the Steelers for three years, which included winning Super Bowl XL. But while Porter has fond memories of the Super Bowl, he doesn’t have fond memories of Roethlisberger.
Porter said on Cam Heyward’s podcast that Roethlisberger was a bad teammate, and he never wants to hear Roethlisberger talk about the Steelers because the Steelers don’t respect Roethlisberger.
“He should never grab a microphone and really talk Steeler business,” Porter said. “If we’re talking Steelers business, his ass is foul of all foul. The shit that he did is foul of all foul. He’s not a good teammate. Won a Super Bowl with him, but the person? He’s just not a good teammate. He knows that. Anybody in the Steeler building knows that. But we protected him because I’ve only won one Super Bowl, and that was my quarterback. So do I love my quarterback? Yeah. But is he a good person? No.”
As an example of how Roethlisberger’s teammates felt about him, Porter said that players had previously voted for team captains, but when Roethlisberger became the starting quarterback, he was named team captain without voting because the coaches knew Roethlisberger’s teammates wouldn’t vote for him.
“Because if he wasn’t a captain he’d probably throw a hissy fit,” Porter said. “Nobody’s going to vote for him for captain because he doesn’t have captain qualities.”
Heyward, who was a teammate of Roethlisberger’s for 11 years on the Steelers, did not indicate whether he agreed with Porter, but he didn’t express any disagreement while Porter used Heyward’s podcast as a platform to bash Roethlisberger.
It’s convenient to drag the Vikings for not re-signing quarterback Sam Darnold a year ago. But the Vikings were far from alone.
Multiple other teams could have pursued Darnold as a free agent. They didn’t.
The Steelers opted for Aaron Rodgers. The Raiders traded for Geno Smith. (Tom Brady reportedly didn’t want Darnold.) The Jets overpaid Justin Fields (not that they could have brought back Darnold). The Colts went with Daniel Jones as the alternative to Anthony Richardson.
The Seahawks, after getting a third-round pick for Smith, pivoted to Darnold. They signed Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million deal. He’s making $33.5 million per year, nearly half the amount of the open market.
He’ll make $27.5 million in 2026 and $35.5 million in 2027. Darnold received $37.5 million in 2025, with a cap number of only $13.4 million. His cap number increases to $37.9 million in 2026 and $41.9 million in 2027.
It was, and is, a steal for Seattle. One that, given his performance and the team’s achievements in 2025, justifies a new deal, much sooner than later.
The contract was a great one for the Seahawks. They bought low. The fact that Darnold grossly outplayed the deal counts as a good problem to have for the Seahawks.
Regardless, it’s time to pay the piper — if the Seahawks regard Darnold as the short- and long-term answer at the quarterback position.
In the days preceding the Super Bowl, a broad net was cast for any and all information that would be worthy of a cameo appearance or two during the five-hour pregame show.
Here’s a nugget that didn’t make the cut.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Steelers definitely want quarterback Aaron Rodgers to return for 2026. It’s not a ploy to make Rodgers think they want him back while hoping he doesn’t return. They want him to return.
And here’s the kicker. They’re in no hurry. While they don’t anticipate that the situation will take quite as long as it did last year to resolve itself, they’re content to focus on developing second-year quarterback Will Howard. With Rodgers not there for the offseason program, Howard has a chance to become QB1 over Mason Rudolph.
Whether Howard becomes a viable starter remains to be seen. Again, he was a sixth-rounder. And while his draft status may have resulted in part from the Shedeur Sanders logjam, Howard lingered until pick No. 185.
It all comes down to what Rodgers wants to do, and when he chooses to do it. Taking his time to make a decision allows him to miss the voluntary portion of the offseason program without criticism or scrutiny from the outside.
One question for Rodgers will be whether and to what extent other options emerge. Last year, it was basically the Steelers or no one. This year, maybe the Vikings warm up to the idea of a season with Rodgers. If they don’t, the choices could be Pittsburgh or Del Boca Vista.
And if Rodgers plays, it’s widely expected 2026 would be his final NFL season. He’ll turn 43 in December, putting him well beyond the non-Tom Brady quarterback expiration date.
Here we go again.
The Cowboys and a player represented by agent David Mulugheta are headed for a potential contract dispute.
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that the Cowboys are expected to apply the franchise tag to receiver George Pickens. That would block Pickens from hitting the open market on March 11 as an unrestricted free agent.
The Cowboys acquired Pickens in a May 2025 trade with the Steelers. Dallas sent a third-round pick in 2026 and a fifth-round pick in 2027 for Pickens and a sixth-round pick in 2027.
Pickens had a career-high 93 catches for a career-high 1,429 receiving yards and a career-high nine receiving touchdowns. He earned second-team All-Pro honors.
The franchise tag for receivers will be in the range of $28 million. That’s more than four times his career earnings of $6.7 million, but it’s far less than the current market rate of $40 million per year.
If/when the tag is applied, the Cowboys and Pickens will have until July 15 to negotiate a multi-year deal. If the non-exclusive tag is applied, any other team would be eligible to sign Pickens to an offer sheet, with the Cowboys having a right to match and two first-round picks as compensation if they don’t.
Pickens will have the right to withhold services until he gets a long-term deal, since he won’t be under contract. He can stay away from the offseason program, training camp, and the preseason. He can show up and accept the franchise tender days before the start of the regular season and still make his full tag amount.
And while, on the surface, there’s no reason to hold out after July 15 (since he can’t get a long-term deal), Pickens could take the position that he wants more than the amount of the tag for 2026.
On the other hand, if Pickens will essentially be in a second straight contract year, he may decide to take the money, show up early, and do everything he can to chase a long-term deal in 2027. Of course, the Cowboys could tag him a second time in 2027; by rule, he’d get a 20-percent increase over the 2026 compensation. At $28 million this year, he’d get $33.6 million in 2027.
Last year, Mulugheta client Micah Parsons and the Cowboys had an ugly contract standoff that resulted in a late-August trade. A repeat of that specific outcome is unlikely this time around, because a trade after July 15 would not allow Pickens’s new team to sign him to a multi-year deal.
Still, this one could get ugly in other ways. Especially if Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insists on trying to bypass Mulugheta and negotiate directly with Pickens.
The Steelers have agreed to bring in another defensive assistant for new head coach Mike McCarthy.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, C.J. Ah You is expected to become Pittsburgh’s outside linebackers coach.
Ah You has served as outside linebackers coach for Texas Tech since 2022, also serving as the program’s interim defensive coordinator in 2024.
While Ah You has been in coaching since 2015, this will be his first NFL position.
A Bills seventh-round pick in the 2007 draft, Ah You appeared in 33 games with three starts for the Rams from 2009-2011.
The Steelers announced the addition of five assistant coaches to Mike McCarthy’s staff on Wednesday afternoon.
Offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio’s hiring headlines the group. Angelichio spent the last four seasons as the passing game coordinator and tight ends coach for the Vikings. He also spent time as the tight ends coach for the Packers during McCarthy’s time as the head coach in Green Bay.
The Steelers also confirmed that they have hired special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and assistant head coach/secondary coach Joe Whitt.
Longtime NFL defensive lineman Domata Peko is joining the team as their defensive line coach. He held the same position at the University of Colorado in 2025 and he worked as a defensive assistant under McCarthy with the Cowboys in 2024.
The Steelers have also hired Pat Reilly as a defensive quality control coach. He was an offensive assistant with the Texans in 2025.
Joe Flacco wrapped up his 18th season with his first trip to the Pro Bowl and the prospect of a 19th season came up during a Wednesday visit to PFT Live.
Flacco said that there are “lots of things that go into” a decision to sign with a team for the 2026 season. At the top of the list is whether or not he will have a chance to get on the field.
“At this point, I don’t want to just sign up with anybody, I don’t want to just play football or be on the sideline for the sake of being out there,” Flacco said.
Flacco opened the 2025 season as the starter in Cleveland and moved on to the Bengals in a trade after Joe Burrow injured his toe. Flacco said he enjoyed his time with the team, but Burrow’s presence would put be an obstacle to starting any more games.
“I like the idea of Cincinnati, but, at the same time, you are resigning to something there,” Flacco said. “There’s a world where I could see that happening, but I have to see what’s out there.”
The move to the Bengals means that Flacco has now played for three of the four AFC North teams. The Steelers have an unsettled quarterback position right now and Flacco called it a “pretty cool idea” to hit every team in the division while reiterating that he’ll have to evaluate every opportunity before making any decisions.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy is bringing in a familiar face to help run the team’s defense.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Joe Whitt Jr. is joining Pittsburgh as assistant head coach/secondary coach.
Whitt previously served under McCarthy with the Packers from 2008-2018. After initially joining the club as a defensive quality control coach, he was promoted to cornerbacks coach in 2009 and defensive passing game coordinator in 2018.
He then worked under McCarthy again with the Cowboys from 2021-2023 as defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach before following Dan Quinn to the Commanders in 2024 to work as the team’s defensive coordinator. But Quinn took back defensive play-calling duties midway through the 2025 season before dismissing Whitt after the conclusion of the season.
