The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t fare well in the second annual NFLPA player survey, a report card ranking the best and worst teams in a wide-ranging number of categories. Per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, the Steelers ranked near the bottom at 28th place out of the 32 NFL organizations.
Areas clubs were graded include cafeteria/nutrition, coaching staff, weight room, and locker room. This year, other questions were asked such as the best and worst head coaches in football and how committed to investing in the team ownership is.
Per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, here is how the Steelers graded out in each category. Overall, the results aren’t pretty. Their worst marks come in:
Treatment of Families (F-) – 29th
Nutrition/Dietician (D) – 30th
Locker Room (F) – 30th
Training Room (D+) – 29th
Team Travel (D) – 28th
Ownership (F) – 31st
The only area the team received especially high marks in was head coach, a reflection of Mike Tomlin. He received an ‘A’ grade, one of the league’s highest marks. The Steelers also received a B- in Food/Cafeteria and a B+ in Strength Coaches, though the team just turned over nearly its entire staff.
Owner Art Rooney II received terrible marks, an ‘F’ grade and only ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Clark Hunt. The NFLPA site offers this note:
“There is little confidence among respondents in the willingness of club owner Art Rooney II to invest in a better workplace, as he ranks second to last in this year’s report.”
According to Yahoo’s Charles Robinson, Facilities Investment played a major role in determining owner rankings. There, according to the NFLPA report, Rooney received just a 5.8 grade, leading to his 31st-overall ranking.
“Club owner Art Rooney II receives a rating of 5.8/10 from the Steelers players when considering his willingness to invest in the facilities (31st overall).”
In the treatment of families category, the report notes the Steelers don’t have a family room during games nor daycare during the games. Per NFLPA player rep JC Tretter via Pryor, he notes Pittsburgh doesn’t offer things most other teams do.
Last year, Rooney responded to similarly negative comments about the team facilities, noting there’s an “open door” policy for players wanting to share their thoughts.
“We’re always looking to try and improve our facilities,” Rooney said last March. “We expanded the facility a few years ago. We’re always open to ideas [about] what we need to improve. I think we have an open-door policy with our players and things that they see that they think we can improve on”.
For this year’s Steelers report card in the nutrition/dietician category, the survey noted just over two-thirds of players felt they have a nutrition plan tailored specifically to them.
In their terrible locker room grade, only 60 percent of players said the space was large enough with many players also citing “outdated” lockers in need of an upgrade.
For the training room, the Steelers were hit with low-staffing concerns and the lack of a sauna, equipment most other teams provide.
“Many players feel they need greater access to individual care. Some feel the training room is understaffed and lacks the necessary equipment and modalities that should be standard in NFL training rooms.”
Though their weight-room grade received a comparatively better ‘C’ grade, specific feedback still offered a poor view of the facility.
“A majority of Steelers believe their facility is no better than where they could otherwise train offsite. Only five other teams in the league have similarly poor impressions of their own weight room.”
Pittsburgh received high marks for its strength coaches. But head strength and conditioning Marcel Pastoor recently left after many years with the team while assistant Rodain Delus is also no longer with the organization. The team hired Boston College’s Phil Matusz as the team’s new head strength and conditioning coach. The only holdover is Garrett Giemont, the team’s senior conditioning coach. Hired by Tomlin in 2007, the two worked together in Tampa Bay from 2004 to 2005.
For the second year, the Steelers received low marks for team travel. Only 80 percent of players said they felt there was enough room when the team traveled, ranking 20th in football.
The bright spot was Tomlin. Receiving an A-grade overall, he got a 9.6 out of 10 from players, ranking fifth-best in football. According to the survey, 98 percent of players felt Tomlin was efficient with their time and most felt he was “very willing” to listen to the locker room, ranking ninth-best in the league in that area. These survey results are consistent with what players have publicly said about him and why he is regarded as one of football’s top head coaches.
Last year, the Steelers’ report card ranked 22nd across the NFL, receiving similar low marks for their training room, locker room, and treatment of families. But the latter two category grades were worse for this year’s edition than they were a season ago.
