From being known for many years on Caste Football as the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Steelers begin the 2026 season with fully 24 White men on the roster. Who’d a thunk it? Not me, but the endless and ultra-stale Mike “Never Had a Losing Season” Tomlin regime is finally over and veteran coach Mike McCarthy is now at the helm.
McCarthy is a Pittsburgh native, growing up in a working class neighborhood where his father owned a bar. When he coached the Packers to a Super Bowl victory, McCarthy had the team with the most Whites on it; when he went to Dallas he coached one of the blackest teams. Bottom line is that McCarthy is a flexible company man and works well within the strict confines of the unwritten rules of the NFL’s Caste System rather than being beholden to a fixed way of putting his teams together demographically, so how the Steelers use all their White talent this season – and there is a lot of it -- is of great interest.
Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are long gone and Pittsburgh now has four White quarterbacks, led by all-time great Aaron Rodgers in his final season. Rodgers was pretty good in 2025 but was victimized by poor protection and a weak receiving group. Rodgers can still move around, one of the areas of QB play where he’s been genius level, but closing in on 43 years old is understandably quick to get rid of the ball under pressure.
Behind Rodgers is steady backup Mason Rudolph, along with two young talents, Will Howard and Drew Allar. Howard and Allar are unlikely to see the field during the regular season and are mostly battling each other for the first shot at succeeding Rodgers in 2027.
Seventh round draft pick Eli Heidenreich made the team as the third running back. He’ll likely be mostly a special teams demon this year having already been promoted as the squad’s “personal punt protector,” but besides being a very good runner he excels at receiving (a huge advantage White RBs have over black ones on average), which gives Heidenreich an edge over the two backs ahead of him. Like McCarthy, Heidenreich is a Pittsburgh native and former high school and college star, but hopefully he’s not used as a feel-good mascot type and ignored as a runner and receiver. Best case scenario is he’s used a fair amount as the third down back.
The Steelers carry two White receivers, Ben Skowronek and rookie Kaden Wetjen, who will also return punts and kickoffs. Skowronek is mostly a WSTD who contributes on occasion with a reception, but he's certainly capable of being the team’s third receiver as he is very solid and reliable, but that won’t happen barring injuries to the “upsiders” ahead of him on the depth chart. Wetjen can be an even better third receiver and flashed his ability with some big plays during the preseason but will have to undergo a racial apprenticeship before there’s any chance of that happening.
Pat Freiermuth is the starting tight end. He’s been underused his entire career and there’s a lot of conjecture that Rodgers will look his way more this season. As evidence, former Rodgers favorite Robert Tonyan is on the team as the third string tight end. Tonyan caught 11 TD passes from Rodgers in 2020 when both were on Green Bay before injuries derailed Tonyan’s career.
Mason McCormick starts at left guard and Zach Frazier out of WVU at center. Both are quite good and Frazier should be one of those plug and play stalwarts who has a long career. McCormick was drafted in the fourth round, Frazier in the second. Most of the blacks the Steelers have drafted early for several years now have been notable busts, while their White draftees no matter when drafted, such as Frazier, McCormick, T. J. Watt, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer and others have almost all been “overachievers.”
Rookie Gunnings Dunker, he of the great throwback mullet, is a backup left guard, Ryan McCollum is the backup center, and Brock Hoffman, who played under McCarthy at Dallas, is the backup right guard.
T. J. Watt will soon turn 32. He had an off season in 2025 and has been heavily criticized for it after signing a huge contract, but he has a lot of pride and determination and it won’t be surprising if he’s back among the league’s sack leaders this season. He’s finally being moved around more rather than always lining up in the same place as happened under Tomlin, so that’s another factor working in his favor.
Payton Wilson starts at one of the ILB spots. He was mostly a two-down player last season despite putting up huge tackling numbers. He should be on the field every down in ’26 and with Tomlin and his non-existent “coaching tree” gone, Wilson looks set to really make his mark.
Nick Herbig was paid starter’s money during the offseason even though he has yet to play full time, so expect a big year from him, both as an edge rusher, at which he’s a demon, and also playing more off ball. Herbig, Watt and black edge rusher Alex Highsmith should be used interchangeably to the point that all three will get close to starter’s snaps.
Jack Sawyer looked very good last year as a rookie after being drafted from Ohio State and is fourth on the totem pole among the Steelers’ superb outside linebackers. However, Highsmith was quite unhappy after Herbig received his big contract and it’s possible this could be his final season in Pittsburgh.
Cole Holcomb, who’s fought his way back from a grisly knee injury, is a very solid backup on the inside, while Carson Bruener, drafted to be a WSTD, is slowly making his way up the depth chart though he is unlikely to play much at ILB this season.
Sixth round draft pick Gabe Rubio out of Notre Dame made the team as a defensive tackle. He’s part Mexican and looks mostly Spanish, and so if the part-Poly Herbig can be “one of ours,” Rubio is at least worth a mention.
As I’ve cautioned in various threads, it could well be that the sum total of the Steelers this season ends up being considerably less than the promise of the various parts given that so many of the White players are backups, but 24 is a plain impressive number for today’s NFL and now we get to see how it plays out.
QB: Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Drew Allar
RB: Eli Heidenreich
WR: Ben Skowronek, Kaden Wetjen
LG: Mason McCormick, Gennings Dunker
C: Zach Frazier, Ryan McCollum
RG: Brock Hoffman
TE: Pat Freiermuth, Robert Tonyan
DT: Gabe Rubio
OLB/edge: T. J. Watt, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer
ILB: Payton Wilson, Cole Holcomb, Carson Bruener
PK: Chris Boswell
P: Cameron Johnston
LS: Christian Kuntz
Practice Squad: WR/RB Max Hurleman (deserves an opportunity somewhere), TE Lake McRee, OLB Julius Welschof, OG Doug Nestor
IR: DT Logan Lee, OT Jack Driscoll
Number of White Starters: 6
Number of White Players on the 53: 24
Grade: C+
Injured while serving in Vietnam, Rocky Bleier rushed for over 1,000 yards in 1976 and 3,865 yards for his career and remains one of the most popular Steelers from their 1970s dynasty.
McCarthy is a Pittsburgh native, growing up in a working class neighborhood where his father owned a bar. When he coached the Packers to a Super Bowl victory, McCarthy had the team with the most Whites on it; when he went to Dallas he coached one of the blackest teams. Bottom line is that McCarthy is a flexible company man and works well within the strict confines of the unwritten rules of the NFL’s Caste System rather than being beholden to a fixed way of putting his teams together demographically, so how the Steelers use all their White talent this season – and there is a lot of it -- is of great interest.
Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are long gone and Pittsburgh now has four White quarterbacks, led by all-time great Aaron Rodgers in his final season. Rodgers was pretty good in 2025 but was victimized by poor protection and a weak receiving group. Rodgers can still move around, one of the areas of QB play where he’s been genius level, but closing in on 43 years old is understandably quick to get rid of the ball under pressure.
Behind Rodgers is steady backup Mason Rudolph, along with two young talents, Will Howard and Drew Allar. Howard and Allar are unlikely to see the field during the regular season and are mostly battling each other for the first shot at succeeding Rodgers in 2027.
Seventh round draft pick Eli Heidenreich made the team as the third running back. He’ll likely be mostly a special teams demon this year having already been promoted as the squad’s “personal punt protector,” but besides being a very good runner he excels at receiving (a huge advantage White RBs have over black ones on average), which gives Heidenreich an edge over the two backs ahead of him. Like McCarthy, Heidenreich is a Pittsburgh native and former high school and college star, but hopefully he’s not used as a feel-good mascot type and ignored as a runner and receiver. Best case scenario is he’s used a fair amount as the third down back.
The Steelers carry two White receivers, Ben Skowronek and rookie Kaden Wetjen, who will also return punts and kickoffs. Skowronek is mostly a WSTD who contributes on occasion with a reception, but he's certainly capable of being the team’s third receiver as he is very solid and reliable, but that won’t happen barring injuries to the “upsiders” ahead of him on the depth chart. Wetjen can be an even better third receiver and flashed his ability with some big plays during the preseason but will have to undergo a racial apprenticeship before there’s any chance of that happening.
Pat Freiermuth is the starting tight end. He’s been underused his entire career and there’s a lot of conjecture that Rodgers will look his way more this season. As evidence, former Rodgers favorite Robert Tonyan is on the team as the third string tight end. Tonyan caught 11 TD passes from Rodgers in 2020 when both were on Green Bay before injuries derailed Tonyan’s career.
Mason McCormick starts at left guard and Zach Frazier out of WVU at center. Both are quite good and Frazier should be one of those plug and play stalwarts who has a long career. McCormick was drafted in the fourth round, Frazier in the second. Most of the blacks the Steelers have drafted early for several years now have been notable busts, while their White draftees no matter when drafted, such as Frazier, McCormick, T. J. Watt, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer and others have almost all been “overachievers.”
Rookie Gunnings Dunker, he of the great throwback mullet, is a backup left guard, Ryan McCollum is the backup center, and Brock Hoffman, who played under McCarthy at Dallas, is the backup right guard.
T. J. Watt will soon turn 32. He had an off season in 2025 and has been heavily criticized for it after signing a huge contract, but he has a lot of pride and determination and it won’t be surprising if he’s back among the league’s sack leaders this season. He’s finally being moved around more rather than always lining up in the same place as happened under Tomlin, so that’s another factor working in his favor.
Payton Wilson starts at one of the ILB spots. He was mostly a two-down player last season despite putting up huge tackling numbers. He should be on the field every down in ’26 and with Tomlin and his non-existent “coaching tree” gone, Wilson looks set to really make his mark.
Nick Herbig was paid starter’s money during the offseason even though he has yet to play full time, so expect a big year from him, both as an edge rusher, at which he’s a demon, and also playing more off ball. Herbig, Watt and black edge rusher Alex Highsmith should be used interchangeably to the point that all three will get close to starter’s snaps.
Jack Sawyer looked very good last year as a rookie after being drafted from Ohio State and is fourth on the totem pole among the Steelers’ superb outside linebackers. However, Highsmith was quite unhappy after Herbig received his big contract and it’s possible this could be his final season in Pittsburgh.
Cole Holcomb, who’s fought his way back from a grisly knee injury, is a very solid backup on the inside, while Carson Bruener, drafted to be a WSTD, is slowly making his way up the depth chart though he is unlikely to play much at ILB this season.
Sixth round draft pick Gabe Rubio out of Notre Dame made the team as a defensive tackle. He’s part Mexican and looks mostly Spanish, and so if the part-Poly Herbig can be “one of ours,” Rubio is at least worth a mention.
As I’ve cautioned in various threads, it could well be that the sum total of the Steelers this season ends up being considerably less than the promise of the various parts given that so many of the White players are backups, but 24 is a plain impressive number for today’s NFL and now we get to see how it plays out.
QB: Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Drew Allar
RB: Eli Heidenreich
WR: Ben Skowronek, Kaden Wetjen
LG: Mason McCormick, Gennings Dunker
C: Zach Frazier, Ryan McCollum
RG: Brock Hoffman
TE: Pat Freiermuth, Robert Tonyan
DT: Gabe Rubio
OLB/edge: T. J. Watt, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer
ILB: Payton Wilson, Cole Holcomb, Carson Bruener
PK: Chris Boswell
P: Cameron Johnston
LS: Christian Kuntz
Practice Squad: WR/RB Max Hurleman (deserves an opportunity somewhere), TE Lake McRee, OLB Julius Welschof, OG Doug Nestor
IR: DT Logan Lee, OT Jack Driscoll
Number of White Starters: 6
Number of White Players on the 53: 24
Grade: C+
Injured while serving in Vietnam, Rocky Bleier rushed for over 1,000 yards in 1976 and 3,865 yards for his career and remains one of the most popular Steelers from their 1970s dynasty.
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