The Pittsburgh Steelers are entering uncharted territory during the 2026 season. Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy at head coach after Mike Tomlin stepped down, ending his 19 years leading the team. It appears that McCarthy has already won over one of Pittsburgh's newest offensive weapons.
Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. teased McCarthy's “classified” secret sauce when reminiscing about first meeting his new head coach.
“I don't want to give up his secret sauce, but it was very positive,” Pittman said Friday, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. “That's got to be classified; that's between me and him. It just got me fired up. And I feel like Pittsburgh is like my style of football, like just really that tough smash-mouth, gritty. And I think that I just fit in perfectly here.”
The Steelers acquired Pittman in a trade with the Colts on the first day of NFL free agency. Pittsburgh traded a sixth-round pick in exchange for Pittman and a seventh-round pick.
Pittman now joins DK Metcalf, giving the Steelers a pair of 6-foot-4 wide receivers to throw towards. He explained that hauling in contested catches is one big way he proves his worth to his quarterback.
“That just comes with me just trying to show the quarterback that if he throws it, that I'll catch it no matter what,” Pittman said. “And being able to fight for that football, I feel like that just gives the quarterback confidence to throw you the ball, and more targets lead to more yards, and more yards hopefully leads to more wins.”
Unfortunately for Pittman, it is still unclear who his quarterback will actually be in 2026.
Aaron Rodgers has not re-signed with the team after the first week of NFL free agency. But he still seems like the team's most likely option at quarterback.
