Former Steelers OL Trai Essex was in favor of keeping Pat Meyer this year, but he wants to see the OL coach improve the culture. Specifically, he took issue with something QB Aaron Rodgers said he had to do, which has been an ongoing theme. According to Rodgers, early in camp, he got on the OL for not helping their quarterbacks up.
In this case, it was Skylar Thompson, but it’s not the first time we’ve heard about similar issues with the Steelers’ OL in recent years. And in reality, it predates Pat Meyer, whom the team hired in 2022. The year before that, with significant turnover on the line, they were called out in-game for precisely this.
“It’s inbred in offensive-line DNA. You’re supposed to pick up your quarterback”, Essex claimed on 93.7 The Fan, speaking about issues of the Steelers’ OL. “It’s just our nature as offensive linemen to be protective of the guys that are running and carrying and toting the ball”.
Essex said it’s something he’s been noticing for years, and didn’t like hearing Rodgers note that it’s still an issue. To be clear, he didn’t take issue with Rodgers publicizing it, but with the fact that it needed to be said. And Essex pointed a finger directly at Meyer.
“It’s good to see that A-Rod spoke up, and I’m glad it got addressed before the season started. You don’t want things like that bleeding into the season”, he said. “But as an offensive lineman, that’s something that I hope they took to heart. Coach [Pat] Meyer, I hope, heard that loud and clear, because that’s an environment that should’ve been set forth already in that room”.
The job of the offensive line is inherently to protect others, because that’s how they achieve success. They have to keep the quarterback upright and able to throw. They have to clear running lanes for the ball carriers. Picking up your guys after a play seems to have become an elective, perhaps, with the younger generation of offensive linemen.
And yet one might think the Steelers wouldn’t have that issue with their own offensive line. Most of their young players, like Zach Frazier, Troy Fautanu, and Mason McCormick, appear to be cut from an “old school” cloth. They’re also largely from programs of that sort, particularly Frazier out of West Virginia. Is this a league-wide phenomenon in which younger offensive linemen don’t go through the ranks, expecting to help up their ball handlers?
Ultimately, Trai Essex puts it at the feet of Pat Meyer. “Coach Meyer needs to be able to address that, and I’m glad A-Rod did”, he said. It might seem like a small issue, but it’s a matter of team culture. The Steelers are one of few teams who still have destination training camps, and instilling culture is a fundamental part of that.
They want to foster a culture of brotherhood, of camaraderie. HC Mike Tomlin talked about his young offensive linemen growing up together in life, that they will be in each other’s weddings, and the godfathers of one another’s children. So if that’s something that matters, then it should probably matter whether they’re helping each other off the ground.
