Pat Freiermuth #88 of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts after a receiving touchdown in the second quarter of a game against the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium on November 10, 2024 in Landover, Maryland.
Pat Freiermuth #88 of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts after a receiving touchdown in the second quarter of a game against the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium on November 10, 2024 in Landover, Maryland.
You’ve heard the saying: “The NFL is a copycat league.”
Because it is.
The moment one team introduces a new scheme or puts together a plan that yields success, other teams try to replicate it in their meeting rooms and figure out how to counter it.
The best NFL teams get copied, while the rest are the copiers. The Steelers have been the NFL’s trendsetters several times in the modern era.
[Pittsburgh Steelers guard Spencer Anderson (74) reacts after defeating the Baltimore Ravens in an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Steelers guard Spencer Anderson (74) reacts after defeating the Baltimore Ravens in an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.](https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2026/09/04/starting-offensive-line-spencer-anderson/stories/202609040034)
Now, in Mike McCarthy’s first year as coach, the Steelers must get back to being the blueprint for other teams to follow.
Across the NFL, offenses are getting bigger. Multiple-tight-end formations are being used more often as offensive coordinators search for answers against defenses built to limit explosive passing plays. The setup allows offenses to shift between power running and spread passing attacks without changing personnel.
The Steelers have two such players they have drafted, developed and signed to extensions in tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington.
That opens the door for the Steelers to get in front of a growing trend in the NFL — featuring more 12 personnel formations (one running back, two tight ends and two receivers) in a league dominated by 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three receivers).
Doug Whaley knows the Steelers’ history of innovation. He worked in the team’s front office for a decade before becoming the Buffalo Bills’ general manager.
“It’s about trying to stay one step ahead of the Joneses,” Whaley told the Post-Gazette. “It’s the cyclical nature of football. Everybody went to 11 personnel. So, in response, defenses got lighter and faster in nickel and sub-packages. So how do you counteract that? By swinging back to having two tight ends.”
NFL’s latest counterpunch
Every innovation in football eventually produces a counterpunch.
The Kansas City Chiefs took over the NFL once Patrick Mahomes ascended to league MVP in 2018, then won three Super Bowls and five AFC championships over the next seven years. Their explosive passing attack coincided with a systemic rise in similar strategies that defined the NFL.
Defenses responded by using more split-safety coverages — where two safeties stay deep on passing plays — to limit explosive plays through the air.
Next Gen Stats notes that in 2025, 42% of all defensive coverages in the NFL used split safeties. That was the highest rate ever recorded since the service started in 2016, up from 32.9% in 2018.
“It’s just tit for tat,” Whaley said. “If you’re going to do this, I’ve got to counter with that. When you’ve matched me and you know how to defend something I do, I’ve got to go somewhere else that you’re not built to stop.”
As defenses devoted more defensive backs to limiting explosive passes, offenses started to run the ball more — and from heavier personnel packages. Last year, teams used 12 personnel 37.4% more often in 2025 compared to 2018.
Former Steelers cornerback and current CBS Sports analyst Bryant McFadden sees the headaches created for defenses by heavier personnel.
“If you want to give me a shell look with two high safeties and you’re in a nickel package, I’m going to run the football on you,” McFadden said. “You’re going to get ate alive. It’s going to be death by a thousand cuts, ... basically 4 yards here, pop, 5 yards there.”
But while the use of 12 personnel packages surged, one aspect remained the same — it was a virtual coin flip whether teams would run or pass.
In 2018, teams ran the ball 48.9% of the time when in 12 personnel. In 2025, the rate had barely risen to 50.8%.
“Just because you see 12 personnel, you can’t just say it’s going to be a run,” McFadden said. “They’ve got tight ends that can move and get in space and create separation to be assets in the passing game.”
Together, Freiermuth and Washington present different challenges for defenses. Freiermuth is the 6-foot-5, 258-pound receiving threat with a deep and developed route tree, while Washington is the 6-foot-7, run-blocking road grader.
Over their three years together, both have improved in the areas that weren’t strengths — Freiermuth as a blocker and Washington as a receiver. That’s where McCarthy putting them on the field together could pose the biggest challenges for defense in the modern NFL.
“We’re two guys who could dominate the edges or be the mismatch in the pass game,” Washington said. “We’re basically bigger receivers, mismatches. Depending on the success of the tight ends, you could do a lot.”
The Steelers didn’t commit to 12 personnel packages with Freiermuth and Washington as a staple of their offense under Arthur Smith and didn’t maximize their efficiency.
TruMedia tracked the Steelers’ 244 snaps out of 12 personnel as the 14th most in the NFL last year, while their 4.8 yards per play from the package ranked 22nd and their EPA (expected points added) per play rate of minus-0.07 ranked 20th.
That’s where the Steelers can get more out of an offensive-minded coach like McCarthy, whose offenses have ranked as the No. 1 scoring unit four times in his 18 years as a head coach.
“The biggest thing for our tight end group is they give us a lot of versatility,” McCarthy said. “The way I’ve always viewed offense — to me, it starts with two-back concepts, then goes to one-back concepts and then eventually you get to the empty formations and zero-back concepts. So our bunch gives us the ability to play in all three consoles.”
Ahead of the curve?
McCarthy’s offenses have historically been based in 11 personnel, including his years in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers. But he’s drawn up offenses that featured two-tight-end formations when he’s had the personnel to justify them.
In 2022, the Cowboys had a good fifth-year tight end in Dalton Schultz and a fourth-round rookie in Jake Ferguson, who would ascend to being the team’s starter. That year, the Cowboys deployed 12 personnel offense on 249 snaps, fifth most in the NFL. Their 159 rushes out of 12 personnel, 29.9% of their total rushes, were third most.
“There’s one route in particular that Ferguson had a lot of success in Dallas with the last couple years,” McCarthy said. “We look at those cut-ups.”
The Steelers’ offense ranked near the middle of the NFL in scoring over the past two seasons and hasn’t ranked inside the NFL’s top 10 since 2018. Meanwhile, some of the best offenses in the NFL are the leaders in maximizing 12 personnel packages.
Last year’s top offense was Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams. They led the NFL in yards, points and efficiency.
While they weren’t among the top teams in deploying 12 personnel last year, they’ve now drafted second-round tight ends in consecutive years in Oregon’s Terrance Ferguson in 2025 and Ohio State’s Max Klare in 2026, giving them four tight ends on their depth chart.
McFadden calls McVay an offensive genius and one of the best play callers in the NFL and sees him loading up to get ahead of the tight end trends.
“They’re essentially going to have four power forwards at the tight end position,” McFadden said. “They have big bodies that can run, have good hands and they’re willing participants in the running game.”
The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks offered another blueprint. Their 7.5 yards per play with 12 personnel led the NFL, and their 0.14 EPA per play from the package ranked second.
Where McCarthy can add his extra wrinkle to 12 personnel usage is an increase in how many snaps Rodgers takes from under center. The threat of a downhill handoff makes the run game a bigger threat for defenses and opens up bigger opportunities for play-action passes.
“As a second-level defender — the linebackers — you have to respect that,” McFadden said.
This is where the Seahawks were the most efficient again, as their 7.9 yards per play from 12 personnel under center led the NFL. When it came to running the ball from 12 personnel under center, the Steelers led the NFL with 5.5 yards per rush — but they only ran the ball 46 times in that instance, compared to 132 times for the Seahawks.
“The entire playbook is open when you’re under center,” McFadden said. “There are so many things you can do. There are so many uncomfortable positions you can put defenders in when you have that under-center exchange.”
The Steelers hope McCarthy can incorporate the trends from those top offensive teams into their own plan of attack and deploy it in their own way. If McCarthy is successful, it could be the factor that puts the Steelers at the forefront of a trend.
McFadden expects defenses to eventually catch up, as they have throughout the history of the NFL.
“What we’re gonna eventually see, especially with the league trending to multiple-tight-end sets, 12 personnel is going to force defenses to get back to being base defense-oriented,” McFadden said.
When that happens, offenses will look for the next advantage, defenses will search for their next counterpunch and the NFL’s copycat cycle will begin again.
The Steelers just need to decide which side of that cycle they want to be on.
First Published: September 7, 2026, 1:00 a.m.