Though now a San Francisco 49er, Ray-Ray McCloud saw his NFL career get revived in Pittsburgh. A sixth-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2018, he quickly became a journeyman, bouncing around from roster to roster throughout the year. Waived by Buffalo. Signed by Carolina. Waived by Carolina. Signed again by Buffalo.
It wasn’t until the summer of 2020 that McCloud, signed midway through training camp by the Steelers, began to find his footing. He quickly caught a roster spot and became the team’s starting return man, turning that into a two-year deal with the 49ers last offseason.
McCloud joined Terrell Owens and co-host Matthew Hatchette on the Getcha Popcorn Ready podcast to discuss his football career, thanking Mike Tomlin for getting him back into the NFL. And not just that but teaching him how to stick in the league.
“Besides my Lord and Savior, Coach T saved me,” McCloud told the show.
McCloud told the show about his rocky NFL upbringing. He discussed a diagnosed sleep disorder made it difficult for him to be consistent and sometimes sapped him of his energy, giving the perception he didn’t care about the game. He said he battled depression that sometimes turned into anger, admitting that he would get into fights with teammates as a member of the Bills.
Just weeks after getting waived by Buffalo for a second time, the Steelers scooped him up, and one day, Tomlin sat down next to him at practice, using their background in Tampa (McCloud was from there and Tomlin coached there) to connect.
“He sat next to me and I was tying my shoe. He wrapped his arm around me and said, Ray-Ray McCloud…he started naming places in Tampa when he coached there. Places you only go to if you know there. He was just having a real conversation with me. He was like, ‘If I hear you’re boxing in my locker room, I’m gonna put my hands on you.’ For some reason, it took the weight off my shoulder.”
Tomlin, of course, joking, but it was his way to acknowledge McCloud’s mistakes in the past, making it clear that couldn’t happen going forward, but doing so in a way that helped McCloud feel comfortable playing for the Steelers. It wasn’t an issue again and he succeeded as the team’s return man, leading the league in punt return yardage in 2021 and becoming the first Steeler since Rod Woodson to be the team’s leading kick returner in back-to-back years.
While McCloud found his role as a football player, Tomlin helped teach him about life, too. Later, McCloud would say he felt like family in Pittsburgh.
“When I was playing the two years I was there, I could count with two hands how many times that besides the game, he was coaching me football when we sat down and had conversations,” McCloud said. “It was about life. I was just about to have a baby, how to be a dad. Taught me how to be a professional. I carried it over to the 49ers.”
McCloud said it was a different environment from Buffalo, where he was reserved and didn’t talk to anyone. His two months in Carolina didn’t go much better, the coaches telling him they weren’t there to teach him the playbook and his job was solely to catch punts, not focus on playing receiver.
He cashed in with a nice payday in San Francisco, setting a career-high in punt return average (10.8) in 2022 with the team. He was used more vertically in the passing game and scored his first NFL touchdown, an eight-yard grab in Week 8 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
His story is one of many similar ones told about Tomlin, who is able to uniquely connect with each player. In the interview, Hatchette called him one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. If the Steelers didn’t sign him, McCloud likely would’ve fallen out of the league. Now, he’s showed staying power and earned himself a serious contract.
Catch the whole episode below.
