The Pittsburgh Steelers are automatically the biggest winners of the 2026 NFL preseason, as they escaped exhibition action without any significant injuries (let's hope that luck continues during the regular season). But some of the decisions they made during the preseason were questionable... and some might even say downright confusing.
We don't know what was going through Mike McCarthy's head when he made these decisions, but we're confident he had a good reason. However, from the outside looking in, some of these were hard to make sense of.
These preseason decisions may not ultimately affect what happens in the regular season, but if the Steelers get off to a rocky start or some of their young players struggle to contribute early, we might look back on this and question what McCarthy was thinking.
These five Mike McCarthy preseason decisions should have Pittsburgh Steelers fans scratching their heads
Giving Roman Wilson the night off in the preseason finale
Steelers fans were quick to jump to conclusions when they saw Roman Wilson in street clothes against the Buffalo Bills in the preseason finale. While some thought it might be a sign of Wilson getting traded, McCarthy confirmed that Wilson had the night off.
This sent a clear message to the third-year receiver that he would be treated as one of the starters. But did he do enough to deserve the 'starter' treatment?
Most fans would argue no, and the fact that he had just 12 receptions on 21 targets over his first two seasons is proof. This decision came after an extremely quiet first two exhibition games, no less. Wilson could have used the added reps, as he still has much to prove, so letting him kick back and relax while every non-starter on the team was fighting tooth and nail to make an impact in the preseason finale was a choice.
Playing Jack Sawyer for 37 defensive snaps against the Bills
Speaking of interesting decisions during the preseason finale, McCarthy decided to play Jack Sawyer a hefty 37 defensive snaps. This didn't come as a major surprise, as the team was thin at the outside linebacker position throughout the summer, but Sawyer stands to be a prominent part of the edge rusher rotation this year.
Going against scrubs late in the game, McCarthy put Sawyer at unnecessary injury risk in the team's final preseason game. If Sawyer had gotten injured, the Steelers would have only three players at the position to start the season and not a single respectable name to call up from the practice squad.
I wasn't opposed to Sawyer playing in this contest, but to deploy a player who will have a rotational role on defense from Day 1 for so many snaps in a meaningless game was a questionable choice.
Giving Eli Heidenreich just 20 total carries during the preseason
With just 20 carries during his rookie preseason, many fans were surprised to see that Eli Heidenreich found a spot on the 53-man roster as the third and final running back. But if the Steelers planned on keeping him, why didn't he get more looks from the backfield?
This equates to roughly six and a half carries per game, which is hardly enough for the rookie to get into any sort of rhythm. Meanwhile, Heidenreich was more of a fullback and slot receiver than a running back during his time at Navy.
And with how new he is to the position, it would have made sense to double his workload during the preseason—especially in hindsight, knowing that the team intended to keep him on the 53-man roster.
Not starting Drew Allar in the preseason finale
After a spectacular debut performance against the Green Bay Packers in his first preseason game, Steelers fans were calling for Drew Allar to start against the Jets, with Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph sitting. Instead, McCarthy went with Will Howard, who struggled mightily with just 74 yards on 15 passes and two interceptions in the first half.
Because of this, we hoped McCarthy would give Allar a chance to start against the Bills in the preseason Week 3 finale. Instead, he rolled with Howard once more, and Allar didn't see the field until the second half, when both sides of the football included a slew of depth players—most of whom stood no chance of making NFL rosters.
This was likely the last time McCarthy would have gotten a chance to see Allar during an organized game until next summer. And with Allar being the higher draft pick with notably better physical tools than Howard to build around, it was an interesting decision not to give him work with the second-team offense as the starter against the Bills.
Not letting Aaron Rodgers and Steelers starting take a single series
Of all the decisions McCarthy made during the Steelers' 2026 preseason, this one may have raised the most controversy. I'm all for trying to preserve your starters and avoid injury in meaningless exhibition action, but it's a bold choice to not play your starting quarterback and top wide receivers for so much as a single offensive series in the preseason.
Despite McCarthy sounding like Rodgers would take the field at some point during the preseason, he never did. Now the 42-year-old quarterback must hit the ground running and shake the dust off immediately with a new coaching staff and new starting receivers, Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson (who is expected to be a starter in three-receiver sets).
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