The Pittsburgh Steelers fared poorly in many aspects of the NFLPA’s report card outside of head coach Mike Tomlin, but they also have one of the Players Association’s worst-regarded head coaches on their staff. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith ranked 30th among head coaches in that capacity with the Atlanta Falcons last year.
Atlanta ranked 25th overall, only slightly better than the Steelers, but it ranked ninth in ownership. The Steelers ranked 31st in ownership because players don’t believe Art Rooney II invests enough in the facilities. But Tomlin is far better regarded as a head coach than Smith’s players viewed him last year.
“Only 67% of players feel that former head coach Arthur Smith was efficient with their time”, the report card reads. “Players feel that former head coach Arthur Smith was somewhat willing to listen to the locker room”. He ranked 30th in both matters, and 30th overall, though he still received a C+ overall grade.
Only former Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera (C) and former Los Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels (D) received worse grades than Smith, however. And both coaches received their walking papers in-season or close enough. The Commanders fired Rivera one day after the season ended.
The Falcons fired Smith on the same day, but unlike the others, he quickly found other work. The Steelers hired him as offensive coordinator on Feb. 2, and he reportedly intended to interview with other teams, too.
Does Smith have issues connecting with his players? Are those struggles tied to the team struggles and the responsibilities of a head coach? His players seemed to respond to him better in Tennessee as offensive coordinator.
The Titans as an organization always valued him as well. Smith worked under several different head coaches, surviving their firings. The Falcons posted three straight losing seasons, which doesn’t help. There’s a clear but not universal correlation between head coach grades and successful teams.
Interestingly, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski ranked 28th, though still with a B- grade. The reality is most players regard their head coaches well, but there are still degrees. Bill Belichick ranked 27th, players believing he didn’t listen to them (shockingly). John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens ranked 20th.
The NFLPA has only put out two report cards and already tweaked it from the first year. We don’t know how valuable they actually are, or how accurately they reflect reality. J.J. Watt, for his part, said that he believes the players take that very seriously.
But that doesn’t mean the players are actually right. And we don’t know if the survey they fill out tells us much. For example. the grade for owners seems to be based exclusively on the player’s belief in the owner’s willingness to invest in the facility. That seems incredibly limited to me.
I do hope they continue to put out these report cards, but I also hope they improve them to make them more useful. As for Smith, I’m not sure what to take away from his grade. We know his stint as head coach in Atlanta flamed out. But he’s here as offensive coordinator under Tomlin.
