It’s possible that we still hear of further changes down the road in the very near future with respect to the team’s coaching staff, but for the time being, the only addition or subtraction that the Pittsburgh Steelers have made has been to hire Matt Canada to serve as their new quarterbacks coach, relieving offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner of that dual responsibility.
Said Art Rooney II of that decision, in an interview with Missi Matthews for the team’s website, “we have a young quarterback. We’ll probably wind up with more than one young quarterback on the roster. But obviously Mason is developing, and I think Coach felt like, you know, he knew Matt Canada from being down the hall here and felt good about him joining the team. So we think he could be a good addition and help that room out”.
Mason would be Mason Rudolph, who was thrust into the spotlight for most of his second season in the NFL a year ago after having never even dressed for a game, serving as the Steelers’ number three quarterback during his rookie season of 2018.
When Ben Roethlisberger went down in the middle of their second game, Rudolph instantly because the guy, and Devlin Hodges, an undrafted rookie, became his backup. Imagine being a second-year coordinator and at the same time being tasked with coaching up both a starter and a backup who had never thrown an NFL pass before or even dressed for a game.
“I think Mike and I both felt it was an opportunity we had and good to add somebody to the staff that can help with the young quarterbacks, help with the offense”, Rooney told local reporters. “We’re happy that somebody like Matt, who we knew from down the hall here was a known quantity for us, liked him and liked the work he’d done. We’re happy to have him on board”.
Canada has extensive experience as both a quarterbacks coach and as an offensive coordinator—usually simultaneously—at the college level, having done so at Pitt for one season in 2016. That year, he was James Conner’s offensive coordinator.
Prior to that, he was also the offensive coordinator of Jaylen Samuels, and then served in that role for Derwin Gray in 2018, so he has already coached three players on the 90-man roster at three different spots. And Gray has a solid shot of making the team this year, probably.
