The Pittsburgh Steelers are often considered as being one of the NFL’s most storied and successful franchises. Six Super Bowl championships are one of the main reasons for these beliefs, but the long-time ownership from Art Rooney II‘s family has also always been respected. Unfortunately, the team has hit a brick wall of late and hasn’t been able to win a postseason game since the 2016 campaign. This has led to a lot of anger and lack of patience from a fan base that expects phenomenal football. Off the field, the organization has other issues that have been highlighted in recent years.
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Steelers Team President Art Rooney II roams the sidelines as the team warms up and gets ready to compete in a 2022 preseason matchup at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA.
Rooney took another tough loss when the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) annual report cards were leaked. The voting results were not supposed to be published for the public to see after a grievance was filed by several owners; however, that didn’t end up being the case. The entire report was reported by ESPN, and the Steelers finished dead last out of all 32 teams.
Many have been outspoken about where Pittsburgh falls short, and that has led to further discuss from analysts, former players and fans alike. Ben Roethlisberger played in the Steel City for 18 years and is a good person to ask about if these types of anonymous votes really matter in the grand scheme of things.
While the retired quarterback doesn’t recall them existing when he played, he talked about what the most recent version of the report could mean for Rooney and the Steelers. When it comes to the 2026 NFL Draft class, the future Hall of Famer said on his podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, that prospects don’t care one bit about what team finished where.
“If all of a sudden a player gets drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, there’s no way a player — I shouldn’t say no way — I can’t imagine a player says, ‘I don’t want to go to Pittsburgh because they got an F on their grade card,” Roethlisberger said. “Because their weight room’s not big enough. Because the family — I don’t remember all of the things there were.”
Roethlisberger makes a very good point. While some of these soon-to-be-drafted players have unbelievable facilities at top-tier universities across the country, what matters at the professional level is winning; and that’s what the culture in Pittsburgh is about, which outweighs just about everything else.
“There’s no way. People say that when they go to an organization or a franchise that loses,” Roethlisberger stated. “You know what I’m saying? ‘Ah, I gotta go to Cleveland.'”
Fans hope that the two-time Super Bowl champion is right. The generation now is a whole lot different than the one he was in when he came to the NFL out of the Miami University (OH). Overall, most of the guys should simply be happy about getting drafted, and not necessarily worrying about what kind of grade an organization got on an anonymous report card.
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Steelers Team President and Owner Art Rooney II stands on the field as Pittsburgh gets set to play a professional football game on the road.
These votes mean a little bit more to free agents that are searching for new homes. Albeit, they sure don’t help the Steelers in the present day, especially when they sit at last in total voting. Something that could trigger a change in the future might be a complete relocation of the facilities. For now, however, Pittsburgh will have to continue getting through to prospective players with what it has at its disposal.
Steelers Are Hoping NFLPA Report Doesn’t Hurt 2026 Free Agency Plans
Pittsburgh no longer has Mike Tomlin to sell himself in any recruiting pitches. The franchise has plenty of cap space with the new league year around the corner, and while the voting may not matter to college prospects, as Roethlisberger noted, experienced veterans may care about how poorly the Steelers look when the leak came out. Time will tell; however, it would be extremely unfortunate if these feelings from former and current players are what has been holding the organization back.
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Steelers Team President and Owner Art Rooney II stands on the field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the team gets ready to play in a professional football game.