For decades, the city of Pittsburgh was built on the foundation of being a hard-working city, one centered on the steel mills and blue-collar ethos that went into that way of making a living.

That hard-nosed, blue-collar mentality eventually rubbed off on the Pittsburgh Steelers on the gridiron, connecting the franchise with the city forever in the 1970s when the Steelers went on that dynastic run. That mentality has carried over for generations, too. It’s how the Steelers still operate, remaining a defense-first organization that values physical football.

But, as the city itself has over the last two decades or so, it’s time for the Steelers to adjust and embrace change. Pittsburgh became widely recognized across the United States as a significant health care and innovation hub, transitioning away from the steel mills and other manual-labor positions.

Though the need for those manual-labor jobs and the true hard-working class remains, Pittsburgh has embraced change and is thriving.

It’s time for the Steelers to do the same, especially since they now find themselves searching for a new head coach for the first time in 19 years.

No longer can the Steelers focus on playing a similar brand of football that made them successful throughout their modern history. The game of football is constantly changing and evolving, and the Steelers have to get out of the antiquated mindset and adjust to the league, too.

That’s why I personally believe the Steelers should get in early on Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase and give him the opportunity to be their next head coach. He’s a hot, up-and-coming offensive mind who has learned under Sean McVay for two years in the NFL. He also had a long track record of success in college under both Lovie Smith and Matt Campbell.

It would go against the mold of what the Steelers have done the last three times they’ve hired a head coach, landing a young, defensive-minded coach to oversee the franchise. But like the city itself, sometimes you need to change your identity somewhat to experience that next level of success.

That’s not to say that the Steelers shouldn’t hire a defensive-minded head coach like Chris Shula, Jesse Minter, Brian Flores, Anthony Weaver or Ejiro Evero. There’s still a place for them in today’s NFL, if their teams are built correctly. Just look at the Seattle Seahawks (Mike MacDonald), Houston Texans (DeMeco Ryans), Buffalo Bills (Sean McDermott) and New England Patriots (Mike Vrabel) as examples.

What those coaches did, though, was hand the reins of the offense to innovative play-callers, giving them free rein to do as they saw fit. That didn’t really happen in Pittsburgh under Tomlin, especially after the Killer B’s era. The Steelers went back to a conservative approach built on running the football, throwing outside of the numbers and mitigating risk in the passing game.

Though Tomlin found a way to win regular-season games time and time again with that method, especially in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, it never worked in the playoffs. What does work in the playoffs is an aggressive offensive approach, while still having talent on the defensive side of the football that can play fast and free.

There is still a need to run the football and lean on the big men in the trenches on both sides of the ball to win games, especially in the playoffs. But in today’s NFL, you need the quarterback and a sustainable passing game to work. That hasn’t been the case with the Steelers.

So it’s time for change, from the head coach to the rest of the coaching staff, the roster, and even the organizational philosophy.

It’s no longer about the Jimmies and the Joes being better than the opponent and winning their individual matchups based solely on talent. Schematics are so important in today’s game, and the Steelers just haven’t been able to match up there.

Pittsburgh doesn’t have to completely abandon its defensive identity and hard-nosed culture, which it’s been built on for years. But it does need to shift and adapt to the times. And that starts with the hiring of the head coach.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have done a lot of work this offseason, but questions still remain. One of the most burning issues is how they plan to solve the left side of the infield.

Shortstop likely has an in-house solution, with Konnor Griffin to receive every opportunity to make the opening day roster, and is nearly guaranteed to ascend to the bigs early in 2026 if it doesn’t happen immediately after spring training.

Third base is the real conundrum in Pittsburgh. The Pirates would have loved to pencil in Kazuma Okamoto at the hot corner, but they came up short thanks to an 11th-hour push by the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency.

To his credit, Ben Cherington recognizes the issue, and the club has been in contact with free-agent third basemen Eugenio Suarez and Yoan Moncada. Suarez––and his bat––would be the fans’ preference, but his age and salary demands make him a tough fit for Pittsburgh.

That leaves a Moncada signing to platoon with the glove-first Jared Triolo as the most likely outcome, and there are a number of reasons why.

A Yoan Moncada-Jared Triolo platoon at third is the Pirates’ most likely solution for the hot corner

First, a history lesson. A little over a decade ago, the Boston Red Sox gave a then-20-year-old Moncada a record-setting $31.5 million signing bonus as an international free agent and quickly became the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball.

The man at the helm of the Red Sox at the time? None other than Ben Cherington.

Moncada played all of eight games in Boston before he was shipped off to the Chicago White Sox in a trade to land Chris Sale.

There’s an obvious connection there, and while Moncada’s career hasn’t panned out exactly as expected, his 2025 campaign was something of a resurgence. Sort of.

As the White Sox began to disintegrate and many of their young talents stagnated, Moncada hit several bumps in the road. The 2022 saw him post a career-worst 76 wRC+, while 2023 was a bit of a rebound to a league-average mark, and 2024 was nearly wiped out entirely by injury. From 2022 through last season, the Cuban native has averaged just 73 games played per season.

Moncada logged 84 games played in 2025 as a variety of ailments limited his availability, but it was still a vast improvement over the 12 contests he appeared in during the 2024 season.

Moncada’s bat rebounded to a degree, too. His .234/.336/.448 line was 18% better than league average, his .214 ISO was his best power performance since his 2019 breakout, and his 11.1% walk rate helped him get on base at a healthy clip despite the poor batting average and 26% strikeout rate.

Injuries are obviously a concern, but power and patience are two things Pittsburgh’s lineup could still use. While Moncada is a switch-hitter, he’s really become more of a platoon bat at this point in his career. Last season, he posted an .815 OPS against righties and a putrid .477 mark against southpaws.

That’s where Triolo comes in. He’s is a superior defender to Moncada after injuries sapped his athleticism, and the Pirates’ utilityman performed very well against left-handed pitching last season, slashing .275/.339/.459.

In a timeshare with Moncada, Triolo can help keep the 30-year-old healthy, and between the two of them, the Pirates could get a roughly .800 OPS type of performance out of third base. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Moncada will also come much cheaper than Suarez, who brings a lot of the same concerns (aside from health) to the table.

A Moncada-Triolo platoon might not be a ceiling raiser, but it does give the Pirates a higher floor as long as Moncada can stay healthy enough to hold up the strong side of the platoon. And sometimes, raising the floor is all you really need.

The Pittsburgh Steelers continue adding players on reserve/futures contracts as they kick off their offseason.

A day after inking 13 players to futures deals, Pittsburgh circled back around and signed offensive lineman Doug Nester as well as wide receiver Brandon Smith.

Futures contracts are reserved for players who are not on a 53-man roster at the end of the regular season. Teams can sign as many players to those types of deals as they want before reaching the 90-player roster limit that is imposed at the beginning of each new league year.

Nester Returns to Pittsburgh

Nester made 52 starts during his collegiate career, which he spent between Virginia Tech and West Virginia, before entering the 2024 NFL Draft once he ran out of eligibility.

The Steelers signed him after he went undrafted, and he played a total of 85 snaps in the 2024 preseason between right tackle and special teams, per Pro Football Focus.

That wasn’t enough for him to earn a 53-man roster spot, though, and he signed to Pittsburgh’s practice squad after going unclaimed on waivers.

After spending his entire rookie season there, the Steelers signed Nester to a futures deal last January. He logged a total of 132 snaps during the preseason, with all of his offensive reps coming at left (86) and right guard (33), but he was let go before final roster cuts.

The 25-year-old later signed to Pittsburgh’s practice squad in December and remained there for the rest of the season.

WR/Special Teams Depth with Smith

Smith’s NFL career kicked off as a member of the Dallas Cowboys in 2021 after going undrafted out of Iowa.

He spent the following two seasons on the team’s practice squad without finding his way into a regular season contest.

Smith played for the XFL’s DC Defenders in the spring of 2023 and spent that year’s preseason with the Arizona Cardinals, but he did not make the team’s 53-man roster.

After a second stint with the Defenders in 2024, Smith signed with the New York Jets in August 2024. He was let go at final roster cuts, but he signed to the team’s practice squad and made his regular season debut in Week 15 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Smith signed a futures contract with the Jets last January and returned to their practice squad after being cut back in August.

He appeared in two games for New York this past season and logged a total of 21 snaps over that stretch.

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