NFL Rumors on Steelers' HC Search as Insiders Dish on QB Situation, Ownership, More

The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in the unfamiliar position of having to hire a new head coach this offseason following Mike Tomlin's departure, which has generated plenty of questions.

"Coaches will value the stability and ownership patience," a league executive told ESPN's Brooke Pryor when discussing an organization that has featured three head coaches since 1969. "But I think the organization has truly fallen behind in the NFL in terms of a modern operation."

While the Rooney family continues to own the Steelers, this will be the first time current team president Art Rooney II is in charge of a coaching search.

But he may need to be willing to expand the assistant coaching search as well if he wants to land his preferred candidate. Pryor noted the Steelers have often paid assistant coaches less than other teams and featured a smaller staff.

"It's better than most, jobwise," a coaching source told Pryor. "They need to bump up salaries."

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Then there is the quarterback question, as 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers' one-year deal expired. That means Mason Rudolph and Will Howard are the only signal-callers on the roster, which surely isn't as appealing for candidates as Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills or Lamar Jackson with the Baltimore Ravens.

Even the Tennessee Titans (Cam Ward) and New York Giants (Jaxson Dart) have young signal-callers in place, which puts the Steelers at a disadvantage with so many other teams with more stability at the position also looking for coaches.

"The biggest thing is, right now you don't have the quarterback—or at least there's uncertainty at the quarterback," a league source told Pryor. "... You're just coming into a lot of uncertainty."

That uncertainty also goes to the defensive side with 36-year-old Cameron Heyward entering the last year of his deal, T.J. Watt signed to a contract with $42 million cap hits in each of the next two seasons and pass-rusher Alex Highsmith signed to a contract with $20 million and $21 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons.

Pittsburgh may have to make some financial decisions that could lead to a worse immediate outlook.

"Because of the salary cap situation and roster construction, [the job] may not be quite as appealing because they have an older roster and no QB in place," a league executive said.

It is a crucial offseason for the Steelers for a number of reasons, not the least of which is finding a new head coach.

Yet whoever that new head coach ends up being may not be walking into the easiest situation, which could be a concern since the expectation will be to restore the franchise to its days of postseason victories.

Pittsburgh's last playoff win came during the 2016 campaign, as postseason failures began to define the end of the Tomlin era.

Ideally for the next coach, it won't define the next era as well.