Cam Heyward

There's safeguards a team can make when hiring a hc a year or two early and that comes in the form of Sr Assistants/ Assistant HC roles. A great up and coming coach will almost always have a quality old dude focused on the opposite side of the ball they coach. If we're talking about a young offensive mind, then we couldve looked at guys like Pete Carroll or Marvin Lewis to fill that role; if we hired Shula then McCarthy could've filled that role. A young Tomlin had Lebeau to help guide and nature.

 

This is what we did with Cowher and Tomlin (I assume not Noll, but I wasn't watching football at that time).

I assumed that it was what we'd do this time too.

But I think Rooney wants to maximize the shot at the playoffs. And throwing a young HC into a season with ARod doesn't seem like the best recipe for a healthy locker room to me.

 

A young HC probably doesn't even get Rogers to return. The net result would've been guys like Ramsey and TJ demanding trades and Cam retiring... And I would've been ok with that .

 

Me too. I think we should have started rolling the dice on rebuild(s) a while ago.

But it seems pretty clear that Rooney isn't in the same camp as us.

 

Which is exactly why the past two seasons crashed hard. The Steelers had one of the oldest defenses in the league, if not the oldest. As for this upcoming season, Steelers have one of the oldest, if not the oldest, defense in the league. Coaching can't correct father time when it crashes hard.

 

McCarthy certainly likes the current roster he commented on how talented it is when he took over.

 

Ofc he would...

 

What I don't do is end a person's career because of one down year.
Also every time I turn around TJs contract is a little less expensive than other Defensive players who have not done half of what he has.

 

I didn't want McCarthy, but as soon as he was signed as the HC of the Black and Gold I wish him the very best, and hope someday we are saying how great he is.

 

You don't build for the future by cutting all the player that can still play for players you aren't sure can play.
I said this is a different post, but , and Im not saying you, but many people don't seem to get that a HC, and GMs jobs are to win as many games as possible

 

Yes. Objectively a coaches job is to win as many games as possible. But when we've had the oldest defense in the league the previous 2-3 seasons and will have one of the oldest defenses in the league yet again, it becomes groundhog day. Having stale bread with a Pepsi instead of Coca-cola is still stale bread. The best defenses in the league are on average 3-4 years younger than the Steelers. They are talented players, but they're old. The difference will be another year older with another defensive collapse ahead of us. Shedding the age will make this defense faster and objectively better. I harped on this very issue last off-season and yinz saw the outcome. I expect more of the same.

 

What defensive collapse?
Did you watch the last game they played?? We didn't lose because of a defensive collapse, we lost because with the start of the 4th quarter with the score 7-6 our Offensive fumbled the ball for a TD, and threw a pick 6, and then fumbled again.

 

What... Half of the points the team gave up the entire season happened during 4th Q of games. They couldn't physically play 60 minutes if football.

 

I don't think our offense directly giving the Texans 14 points, and 3 turnovers in the 4th when the score is 7-6 is a collapse on the Defense.

 

You're referencing one game, I'm referencing the entire season.

This is what the geriatric and highest paid defense given us

Rush defense: 16th total yards allowed
Pass defense: 29th total passing yards ally
Total Defense: 26th yards allowed
PPG: 17( 32nd in 4th Q Points Allowed)

Now tell me, how and why is it worth it to keep the nursing home members of this unit? Ramsey, Heyward and TJ will be wearing yellow jackets someday and I really wished they won a SB here. But for this defense to improve upon those stats, they must get younger. The defense getting younger will result in more wins.

 

And what else would you expect him to say

 

And they aren't??

Drafted:
D. Harmon
K. Benton
Y. Black
L. Lee
D. Leal

The fact that Heyward is still playing better than all of them should tell you why they are keeping him.

 

Im referencing the most important game, and since you said end of season collapse earlier.

 

Yea. Those are the players they should be building around.

And despite your point, there's at least 5 guys on this defense getting significant reps over the age of 30. Steelers have one of the oldest, if not the oldest defense in the league. The top 5 defenses in the league are mostly built on guys on their first or second contract. Rams, Seahawks, 49ers and Broncos are 4 years younger than the Steelers.

 

Rosters are not set for 2026. Two 'old guys' from last season are not even on the team this year.