For yet another year, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II and his team fared unfavorably on the NFLPA’s report cards. That is bad news but mixed with good news. As the NFLPA pointed out, the overall grades around the league improved.
Even Rooney’s grade improved — up to a ‘D’, as voted on by Steelers players. Some media members — even Rooney to a degree — have downplayed the voting in the past. Yet players as prominent as J.J. Watt have made it very clear that players do take this seriously.
And it seems that Rooney is starting to take it seriously for the Steelers, too. That is regardless of what he might say publicly, and it will be interesting to hear what he has to say this time. Since their last report card, they have added a sauna and daycare services. In an interview with Jenna Harner earlier this year, he even acknowledged their time at the UPMC Rooney Sports complex may be limited. It’s simply too small, and shared with Pitt, the source of many of their issues. But Rooney is part of the issue, too.
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell told ESPN that Art Rooney II is “a very conservative guy,” but that the Steelers owner has come around somewhat.
“I get the impression that he’s opening up right now. It’s probably not as big as changes I would like, but I think he’s definitely listening to it. I know the GM is, so Omar [Khan] is like ‘Hey, OK, what else can we do? What else can we do?’ So, I mean, that’s progress, right?”
Khan is only going into his third full year as the Steelers’ general manager, though he has worked with Rooney for more than two decades already. Still, he has brought some change in his new capacity, so what influence can he have in this area?
As for Rooney, the Steelers owner has long had a reputation of being cheap, though certainly not with player spending. The Steelers almost always spend to the cap, and Mike Tomlin is one of the highest-paid coaches in sports. But they also have among the smallest coaching staffs, and they have been slow to upgrade their practice facility.
It should be understood that these NFLPA report cards are all relative, and severity can vary greatly from column to column. In one area, a B grade could be 30th in the NFL, while in another, a D could be 15th. But it’s worth noting that Rooney ranked poorly both in letter grade and ranking, despite mild improvements among Steelers players from a year ago.
Even last September, Howell said that he saw improvements coming from the Steelers, so Rooney isn’t completely foolish. He knows that the NFLPA report cards are not going to go away and may only become a stronger recruitment tool. All things being equal, players don’t want to have the poorest facilities in the NFL.
