The NFLPA released the 2025 Team Report Cards on Wednesday, surveying 1,695 players regarding their experiences with their current teams. Yet again, the Pittsburgh Steelers have graded out far below league standards, as was the case in 2024.

The Steelers earned an overall grade that ranked 28th among the 32 NFL teams. Pittsburgh’s highest mark, unsurprisingly, came on the grade of Head Coach Mike Tomlin, whose “A” grade ranked seventh in the league. The NFLPA reported that the players “credit him for developing a strong team culture.” Again, no surprise there.

On the other end of things, the Steelers ranked 28th or lower (AKA, bottom-five) in nutritionist/dietician (30th), weight room (28th), strength coaches (32nd) and ownership (28th). The team ranked 28th overall in the 2024 season as well, showing no overall improvement, though there was a key area of response; the team added gameday daycare services after being noted as one of just seven NFL teams that do not provide daycare support for players on gameday. So, that’s something.

Regarding the team’s lowest marks for strength and conditioning, just 75% of players reported that they received individualized training plans from their strength coaching staff, which ranked 31st out of 32 teams. Meanwhile, their report that the strength team contributes “slightly” to their overall success graded dead last. The team held a B+ grade on their strength coaches just last season (20th) — a sharp fall in the team’s first season with new hire Phil Matusz, who was hired after a four-year stint as a strength and conditioning coach with Boston College.

Generally speaking, it seems like most of these problem areas stem from the head — Art Rooney II. Rooney earned a “D” ownership grade that ranked 28th among team owners — admittedly an improvement from his “F” grade that ranked 31st just last season. He received a grade of 5.8/10 on his willingness to invest in team facilities (31st), which seems to be well reflected in the food/dining area, training room, weight room and locker room — all graded 21st or lower among 32 teams.

The NFLPA states that their goals for the annual survey are “to highlight positive teams, identify areas that could use improvement, and highlight best practices and standards.” If the Steelers are taking a fair look at their assessment, it’s clear there’s still a long way to go toward re-setting “The Standard” … and a lot of that seems to all stem back to Art Rooney II.

Steelers 2025 NFLPA report card grades

Treatment of families: C- (26th)

Food/dining area: B- (21st)

Nutritionist/dietician: C+ (30th)

Locker room: D (27th)

Training room: C+ (25th)

Training staff: B (18th)

Weight room: C+ (28th)

Strength coaches: C- (32nd)

Team travel: B+ (15th)

Head coach: A (7th)

Ownership: D (28th)