The Pittsburgh Steelers have received some of the worst grades in the league since the NFLPA introduced their team “report cards” in 2023. While they generally receive high marks for their personnel, they repeatedly came up short for their facilities.
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell recently visited the Steelers’ facilities to see for himself. It’s worth noting that he acknowledged one obvious fundamental problem. In his words, the Steelers are “constrained”, he told Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, from expanding much due to the location of the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. But he sees progress elsewhere.
“There have been some changes made” by the Steelers, Rutter quotes Howell as saying. “Part of my communication strategy is to talk to owners, is to talk to GMs. I’ve done that”. Notably, Steelers owner Art Rooney II has historically been somewhat defensive about these report cards.
Acrisure Stadium, formerly known as Heinz Field, might still feel “new” to many Steelers fans who remember Three Rivers Stadium. But by NFL standards, the stadium is becoming pretty ancient, and in ways players don’t like, particularly concerning family facilities.
The Steelers received terrible marks on their report card regarding the treatment of families. Howell seemed to suggest they are doing something about that, however. Rutter writes the NFLPA exec “was optimistic about those improvements taking place before the home opener”. Howell said, “It’s in the works”. I’m guessing that involves perhaps some type of daycare, which is common among other teams.
“We’re not looking for the Four Seasons of all training facilities”, Howell said, referring not just to the Steelers but to all 32 teams. “Certainly efforts to be responsive, starting with the training room, starting with the number of trainers, and eventually we can get to the physical aspect of the facility when the economics and everything work out”.
Even with terrible report cards, the Steelers were active and successful in free agency. They landed Patrick Queen this offseason, marking their biggest free agent signing in team history by dollar amount. They have been a little more aggressive in general in free agency since the report cards started, but that is more about new general manager Omar Khan than any kind of reaction to that.
Still, it’s never a bad idea to address your players’ concerns. At least theoretically, these report cards come from the actual players on the roster. It was Steelers players who handed out these grades.
And I think we can trust that there is some level of seriousness about them. I think it was noteworthy that J.J. Watt said in his experience that his teammates take those grades more seriously than anything but voting for team captains. But having Mike Tomlin as the head coach has helped the Steelers gloss over some of the other fineries they don’t or can’t offer.
