Former Pittsburgh Steelers FB Roosevelt Nix didn’t experience any measure of consistent success until being signed by Pittsburgh ahead of the 2015 season. A defensive lineman at Kent State, he only had one winning season during his college career, going 11-3 in 2012 under Darrell Hazell before he left for the Purdue job. He began his career with the Atlanta Falcons in 2014, a team that went just 6-10. Nix took a job as a substitute teacher, but he signed a futures deal with the Steelers in January 2015, and his career took off from there.
During an interview on The Arthur Moats Experience, Nix said that seeing how hard the guys worked around him helped him develop a winning mentality and made him a better player.
“I had been humbled, bro. I was a substitute teacher. So when I got to Pittsburgh, I got around a winning mentality. It was new to me. We didn’t win at Kent. We had one year, but our coach left and we didn’t ever win again. So for me, when I see James [Harrison] on the elliptical for an hour before practice, or I see Pouncey getting worked on for an hour before practice, or I see Heath Miller doing his thing, or AB, I’m like, I’m not doing enough to be great,” Nix said.
He said it showed him that he had to be the best football player he could be, no matter how hard the work was. He opened his first check for $14,000 in front of former Steelers’ CB (and current Commanders’ assistant) William Gay, a nice pay raise from the $500 he was getting every two weeks as a substitute teacher.
Being around so many Hall of Fame-level players like Harrison, Brown in his prime and Pouncey, put Nix in an environment where guys were going to do whatever it took to be the best. Coming from multiple teams without a winning culture and having to teach made Nix a lot more aware of the opportunity he had, and he made sure that if the best were working as hard as they could, he was too.
Nix’s hard work paid off, as he took advantage of that futures contract to become the Steelers’ starting fullback, a role he held from 2015-2019. Nix wouldn’t have to go back to the classroom, as he became a fixture in Pittsburgh’s backfield before getting released after the team signed Derek Watt.
Still, in his 60 games with the Steelers, he made an impression and became a fan favorite. It happened because he was able to appreciate his opportunity and take advantage of it by seeing how hard everyone else worked around him. Those Steelers teams from 2015-2019 were talented enough to win a Super Bowl but were never able to reach the big game, something that looms large when looking at the team’s lack of recent playoff success. But the talent and work ethic was there, and it helped Nix go from an undrafted defensive lineman to a Pro Bowl fullback.
