BREAKING: Former Steelers Offensive Lineman Accuses Pittsburgh Of Having Bad Coaching

The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have one of the better coaching staffs in the NFL. It remains one of the smallest in the league, and it’s possible that a massive salary given to Head Coach Mike Tomlin could be one of the reasons why. Bringing in Arthur Smith to be the team’s offensive coordinator after the 2023 season was one of the biggest hires in over a decade. Unfortunately, the organization hasn’t had too many reliable positional coaches in recent years. One of the areas that still needs help and hasn’t been up to par in some time is the offensive line. Mike Munchak leaving after the 2019 campaign was very detrimental for the franchise.

 

Peter Diana / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Steelers former offensive line coach Mike Munchak walks on the field as the team practices in Pittsburgh, PA.

Since Munchak left, the Steelers have had Shaun Sarrett, Adrian Klemm and current offensive line coach Pat Meyer. No one in that trio has impressed the fan base, and if the unit doesn’t drastically improve in 2025, it’s probable that Meyer will not have a job in the Steel City after the season. Sarrett and Klemm impressed no one during their respective tenures, and it is now being said by a former player that Sarrett didn’t do much to help him.

Derwin Gray was drafted by Pittsburgh in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He only logged five career games for the Steelers, and those came during the 2020 campaign. He recently appeared on the Strives Sports Podcast and gave a bunch of credit to his former teammates for helping him develop.

“I really appreciated me being with an older line such as Maurkice Pouncey,” Gray said. “Shoutout to Ramon Foster. I still look at Ramon Foster as one of my mentors. Dave DeCastro, Alejandro Villanueva, Matt Feiler. We had BJ Finney, he was a backup. We had JC Hassenaur. We had guys that were there before me that did a really good job of training me to understand the maturity.”

It’s nice to hear that there were several veterans that helped Gray when he was just entering the league, but what Gray had to say about Sarrett was a direct indictment of poor coaching.

“No disrespect to Shaun Sarrett in Pittsburgh, but I feel like I didn’t learn as much from him,” Gray said. “He was an o-line coach, but I feel like I didn’t really get the coaching I deserved and needed to learn. I really learned it from my counterparts; my guys like Maurkice Pouncey and Ramon Foster. Those guys really helped me come along.”

Tomlin has not been known to have a strong coaching staff around him for the majority of his career. The offensive line has been especially terrible from a coaching perspective since Munchak left. It’s rather baffling to hear a former player say that the coach he worked with the most did not do too much to help him improve his craft. While Sarrett wasn’t in the Steel City long, Gray’s words are still a bad look for Tomlin, who hired Sarrett.

Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin (left) and offensive line coach Pat Meyer stand on the field at St. Vincent College as the team practices during 2023 training camp in Latrobe, PA.

Tomlin is considered to be one of the best coaches in the NFL, but that is mainly because of his ability to motivate players and always finish at or above .500. He doesn’t have the time to focus on every position, which is one of the reasons why having a good staff around him is so important. Unfortunately for Gray, this was not the case during his time with the Steelers, which is a massive red flag.

Steelers Have Made Very Few Coaching Changes To Begin 2025 Offseason

Despite a horrible end to the 2024 campaign, Pittsburgh has not had too much going on when it comes to the staff. There were expected to at least be scapegoats, but that hasn’t been the case. Meyer is one of the more questionable coaches, and fans are not all that pleased to see that he will be returning.

Overall, it’s quite possible that the Steelers are looking for a new offensive line coach in 2026. Gray’s comments about Sarrett are extremely concerning, especially because he was a seventh-rounder that would have needed a very good coach to blossom in the NFL. Tomlin needs to find a way to hire more formidable coaches in several key areas.