The Pittsburgh Steelers officially kicked off the Mike McCarthy era Tuesday, starting Phase 1 of their offseason program as they transition under the 62-year-old head coach, who was hired to replace Mike Tomlin.
Though the offseason program isn’t expected to have much attendance because it’s not mandatory, many of the Steelers’ stars — including team captains Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt, among others, showed up to the South Side facility Tuesday.
That helped get things started on the right foot for the Black and Gold, and it has one former Steeler in Willie Colon fired up for what’s ahead, especially from the defense.
Appearing on Good Morning Football Wednesday, Colon raved about the number of veterans who showed up, and what it means for the franchise moving forward.
“For me, it’s the Steelers’ defense showing up. They showed Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt. You had Jaquan Brisker, who just popped up, we actually took from Chicago. Man, listen, this team is prepared to go and get it this season with or without Aaron Rodgers,” Colon said, according to video via NFL Network. “Cam Heyward walked back into the building, he’s going on his 16th season. I loved Jalen Ramsey there, man. Like this Steelers defense…I’m excited for Joey Porter Jr. That whole group, Alex Highsmith. I’m ready for these boys to take the field and get after it, man. They’ve been together for a while. Hopefully they can win more than one playoff game this season, man.
“But it all starts with the Steelers’ defense. The culture’s back in the building. I’m geeked up for it, so the defense is back in the building, the culture’s back.”
It was a great sign that with the start of the offseason program, the Steelers had so many key faces showing up and leading the way. It’s an offseason of change, but there’s a genuine buzz around the team, even if there is some frustration with the Aaron Rodgers situation.
There’s a lot of money invested in the defense, and Pittsburgh changed things up under McCarthy with the hiring of Patrick Graham as the new defensive coordinator in hopes that he can turn things around from an Xs and Os perspective.
Time will tell if that works, but there appears to be a lot of buy-in from the veterans with the new direction of the franchise under McCarthy. That was shown through action, considering how many key players were present Tuesday for the offseason program.
Hopefully things can get solved with Rodgers quickly, too, and the Steelers can really start rolling along and building toward training camp and the start of a new era under McCarthy. It’ll all start with the high-priced defense though, and for one day at least with the offseason program, there those players were leading the way.
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