For former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Derwin Gray, the best teaches were his teammates. Not his coaches. Under former offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett, Gray said his best lessons of how to become an NFL player came from Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, and others instead.
In an interview that took place last year, Gray made it clear he wasn’t disrespecting Sarrett. But his words spoke volumes.
“I really appreciated me being with an older line such as Maurkice Pouncey,” Gray told host Keegan Hartman for Strive Sports Productions. “Shoutout to Ramon Foster. I still look at Ramon Foster as one of my mentors. Dave DeCastro, Alejandro Villanueva, Matt Feiler. We had B.J. Finney, he was a backup. We had J.C. Hassenauer. We had guys that were there before me that did a really good job of training me to understand the maturity.
“No disrespect to Shaun Sarrett in Pittsburgh but I feel like I didn’t learn as much from him. He was an o-line coach but I feel like I really didn’t get the coaching I deserved and needed to learn. I really learned it from my counterparts. My guys like Pouncey and Ramon Foster. Those guys really helped me come along.”
Gray was the Steelers seventh round pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, a tackle from Maryland who wound up playing guard during his brief stay in Pittsburgh. He appeared in five games as a rookie, playing a handful of snaps at both guard spots. Carried on the practice squad in 2020, the Steelers cut him late in the year and he was claimed off waivers by the Jacksonville Jaguars. After bouncing around the NFL, he landed with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions, starting 17 games over the 2023 and 2024 campaigns.
Sarrett began his Steelers’ tenure as an assistant in 2012 and soon became Mike Munchak’s right-hand man. So much so that when Munchak departed after the 2018 season, Mike Tomlin offered Sarrett the head offensive line coach job on the spot and called the promotion a “no-brainer.” Sarrett, however, couldn’t capture Munchak’s magic and the line regressed under him. In fairness, the front five also began aging out and entered a transitional phase but Sarrett didn’t do enough to develop the young talent Pittsburgh had.
Shaun Sarrett was let go after two seasons on the job. Since, he’s taken assistant jobs with the Los Angeles Chargers and Minnesota Vikings and was just hired to be the Jacksonville Jaguars head offensive line coach. Gray’s words are just one perspective but if it’s a common complaint, Duval might be in trouble.
Benefitting from a veteran offensive line capable of showing the way is important and a welcomed addition for any team no matter how quality the o-line coach is. But Gray’s commentary of receiving little help on how to grow his game technically and needing to is damning and highlights the struggles Pittsburgh’s had in replacing Munchak. They missed on Sarrett. They whiffed completely on successor Adrian Klemm, who left the Steelers for the Oregon job before his first season was even over. Pat Meyer is regarded as a fine teacher and will be counted on to maximize a young offensive line the Steelers have made heavy investments in.
There’s certainly fair questions if he’s the man for the job. But he’ll return for the 2025 season and try to make this current front five as quality as the one that existed in Pittsburgh a decade ago. If so, eventually Zach Frazier, Troy Fautanu, and company will be the old heads showing rookies the ropes.
