The Official Steelers Training Camp Thread 2026 the new era begins

That is going to be a tough ask; doubly so if Benton can ball out as well. Mind you, a 7 to 9 sack season doesn't sound all that impressive for a IDL but we need to remember the context of the position. Such IDLs who can produce at the double digit rate, even for a season, are comically rare. Even Cameron Heyward has done so only three times in his whole career. Not everyone can be Aaron Donald, J.J Watt, Cameron Jordan or even Cameron Heyward.


For Benton, if he can be an All Pro this season, Benton is as good as gone.

 

For me, Wilson has always had the ability to become a three down LB. The issue wasn't hesitation in terms of effort but hesitation in terms of gap assignment. Too much guessing and not enough instinct. Then again, few LBs come into the League with such processing abilities from those standpoints.


As I have told you and others many times over, Payton Wilson for me is one of the X Factors for the 2026 Pittsburgh Steelers. Him panning out will go a long way in terms of fast tracking the rebuild for Pittsburgh to return to contender status.

 

Haven't you read the message board since the hiring?

People say he's still only hiring people that he's buddies with or he has coached with before and that he's not hiring the best coaches out there.

You mean you haven't seen any of the posts that say the new defensive coordinator Graham can't coach and he has only coached terrible defenses on bad teams? The defense is going to suck.

You already have people here framing it that McCarthy is an idiot if he chooses Warren as the starting running back, OR if he chooses Dowdle as the starting running back?

You have people here claiming McCarthy never drafted and developed a quarterback over his entire career. Insinuating that he hasn't shown he could do it. They think Will Howard sucks and was just a no-talent 6th round pick. McCarthy handpicked Drew Allar, and many think Allar clearly sucks, so we're doomed.

Have you not seen the comments from people saying his training camp doesn't have enough hitting? "Soft" is what most people call it. They think it isn't going to work.

We have people here that claim the Steelers need to have a veteran backup quarterback on the roster to succeed. If they don't and Rodgers misses a lot of time, the season is over according to many if only young quarterbacks are on the roster.

Some say they just don't like anything McCarthy has done in the last decade and say he is no better than Mike Tomlin....maybe worse.

People here have been saying all this and much, much more before a meaningful snap has occurred. Not one. We, the fans, haven't seen one bit of Steelers football on a field against professional competition, yet many have been criticizing every single decision McCarthy has made with nothing to base it on.

Do the people that post that they think the team will win 5, 6, 7, or 8 games think that is success or failure?

 

TBH, I expect those things even out of backup QBs. I hope we see more out of franchise QBs.

 

I'm afraid that is it for Lee. Two seasons of IR is the limit in my book.