Mike McCarthy has spent months shaping the Pittsburgh Steelers roster how he wants it, but before cutdown day arrives, he made a promise that players who don’t make it will still be treated the right way.
That part of the job was weighing on McCarthy after the preseason finale. With players waiting to learn whether they had earned a spot on the 53-man roster, he admitted sleep probably wasn’t going to come easily.
Roster cuts are brutal, especially for players battling for backup jobs, special teams roles and the final few spots on the roster. Pittsburgh’s coaching staff can spend weeks sorting through those competitions, but cutdown day brings the part nobody enjoys.
McCarthy’s comments focused less on who won those jobs and more on how the Steelers planned to handle the players who didn’t. As he builds a new program in Pittsburgh, that’s one promise his players are unlikely to forget.
Pittsburgh Steelers roster cuts carry extra weight for Mike McCarthy
“I’m anxious about what’s in front of me, so I’m probably not gonna sleep tonight. I know what tomorrow brings,” McCarthy said at his post-game presser.
Coach McCarthy spoke to the media. @Acrisure pic.twitter.com/WsDjmP7seJ
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 28, 2026
That’s unusually candid for an NFL head coach during cutdown week. Coaches usually settle for some version of “tough decisions,” but McCarthy sounded like someone thinking about the people attached to every move, not merely the resulting depth chart.
He also pointed to the Rooney family’s expectations and said that getting the process right matters as he continues to make his mark in Pittsburgh. With plenty of difficult roster decisions ahead, McCarthy doesn’t want a player’s final interaction with the organization to feel careless or rushed.
“But you gotta make sure we keep people the same way going out as when they come in. It’s the right thing to do,” McCarthy said.
A respectful release won’t make losing an NFL job sting much less. It can matter later, though. Fringe roster players become practice-squad candidates, injury replacements, and midseason phone calls, and agents remember how organizations handled those moments.
“So I just want to get this thing right. I wanna make sure when the news is delivered, it’s done the right way, and they get their questions answered. And hopefully, maybe we’ll see him again someday.”
That last part is worth remembering when the transaction list starts rolling in. Players Pittsburgh cuts aren’t necessarily gone from the team’s plans forever, particularly after months spent sorting through and evaluating where everybody fits.
By the end of cutdown day, McCarthy will have his first 53-man roster in Pittsburgh. Before that happens, he’ll be spending a sleepless night figuring out how to talk to the players who won’t be on it.
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