Unpopular Opinion: Steelers fans don’t have to see a player on the field for there to be an evaluation
When the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the dreaded long offseason, there are plenty of ideas to debate. As part of the triumphant trio on the Steelers Preview podcast, I’ve been known to often give a “Dave answer“ to various things as I often like to argue both sides of an issue. With this in mind, a new weekly segment has been born… Unpopular opinion.
There are plenty of arguments both for and against the Pittsburgh Steelers that might not go along with the majority of fans. Oftentimes I believe in these arguments, while other times I simply like to pose a counter argument for ones that are taking it too much to the extreme. For this reason, I’m going to offer some points about the Pittsburgh Steelers that go against the general fan narrative, or at least how I have heard things.
Next up is a reminder that the majority of the evaluation process of a Steelers player is not where the fans can see…
Steelers fans don’t have to see a player on the field for there to be an evaluation
This week’s topic was actually inspired by what I heard on Wednesdays Let’s Ride podcast. Jeff Hartman was talking about Will Howard and expectations for this coming season. Jeff continually said that he would like to see Howard get some action this year in order to have a better idea of what the Steelers had at quarterback before the 2026 draft.
The reason I’m noting this is because I like the way Jeff said this, or at least the way I interpreted it. This was about Jeff wanting to know, not about claiming that the only way the Steelers are going to know anything about Howard is to put him into a game.
With a lot of fans, the last part of that scentence is what many of them believe.
For some reason, there are a number of Steelers fans that think the only way the Steelers could know something about a player is if that fan has seen that player perform in a game. This is so far from the truth. There are many stages of the evaluation process that happen even before a player is put in the position to be on the field during a game. Sometimes the team has to put a player out there because of injuries or other circumstances that they might not be as comfortable with them but the circumstances have called for it. But outside of those situations, a player has to be properly evaluated in the opportunities they have in practice and team meetings in order for the team to be ready to put them on the field.
This is something I think fans forget about way too much. They think their own perspective and their own evaluation is the only thing that’s going on.
I must admit, when a player does get onto the field in a game for everyone to see, what they do in those moments carries a lot more weight than what that player has done in their preparation for the game. There is a lot to be said if a player is someone who rises to the occasion on the field or if there’s someone who falters under the pressure. So it’s not that the evaluation of a player in a game isn’t valuable, it’s that fans just need to remember there’s a lot that has to happen to even get to that point.
I know at the end of the 2024 season there were a lot of people who really wanted to see Roman Wilson. He had only played a handful of snaps in one game and did not have a target in his rookie season. When it got to the end of the year, fans really wanted Wilson to come back onto the 53-man roster, get a helmet for the game, get offensive snaps, and be targeted in order to get a proper evaluation. But this evaluation was only for the sake of the fans. The Steelers had deemed Wilson to not even be up to that point. There was plenty of evaluation of Roman Wilson, and it just wasn’t to the level to get him on the field in a game.
We need to remember this as fans. We only see a small percentage of what a player can do while watching every snap of the game. For every time the Steelers run an offensive play, they’ve run it multiple times in practice. For every defensive situation that a team anticipates, they’ve seen it multiple times in practice. There’s been a lot more going on behind the scenes than what is on the stage that is the NFL football field.
Would it be nice for Steelers fans to get a feel for what Will Howard can do at quarterback this season. Sure, assuming it’s in the proper situation. If Will Howard does not take a single snap is rookie season, just like Mason Rudolph in 2018, does it mean that there was no evaluation done of him all year? Absolutely not. The Steelers will have a good idea of what they have in Will Howard after the 2025 season is concluded. Whether or not he had progressed at that time to do so on the football field in a regular season game remains to be seen.
There is no problem with Steelers fans wanting to see a player on the field to evaluate them for themselves to form their own opinion. But thinking that the Steelers get no evaluation unless fans have seen them a whole other issue.
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Dunno that this opinion should be unpopular. Seems obvious practice is requisite.
I think it’s less popular than you think. For example, there are fans that think the Steelers don’t know at all what they have in Roman Wilson for 2025. They think this because he didn’t get a target and only a handful of snaps. But the Steelers actually do have some idea of what they have in Wilson, and much more than what fans do. Is it complete? I’d say no. What he does in games means a lot more than practice. But they have a much better idea than we do.
I suppose so, regarding your first statement. Certainly the litmus is what happens in stadium. And the way into the stadium is through performance in practice. R. Wilson has practiced when uninjured, at least I’ve heard.
Spot on Dave.
When I get new people I start them with simple tasks, they don’t get more complex tasks until I’m satisfied they can handle the simple ones. To think Tomlin handles his business any differently just ignores his history as a coach.
I will add this though, if we do see Howard the season either went really, really badly, or he is waaaay better than expected.
I get what Dave is saying but even he knows that it’s complete BS. Few fans (those that are patient) accept that idea or notion if you will that you don’t need to see a player to evaluate whether or not they can be successful. Many and I do mean many others have no patience or will even accept the idea of patience. These kinds of fans rag on rookies for not becoming pro-bowlers and should they deny it, then it’s a damn lie and those folks know it but won’t admit it so forgive me if I find the whole article laughable.
Wow. If it’s laughable, why waste energy commenting? The article must bug you past laughter.
I have to say that after reading your comment 3 times I still have no idea what point you are actually trying to make.
Your article said that fans don’t need to see a player in order to evaluate them and I appreciate you saying that but like I said in my response it’s complete BS. Be honest with me Dave how many fans do you talk to actually believe that you don’t need to see a player to evaluate them? I have come across many fans who see a player play after 1 season and deem that player to be a bust. I can recall the evaluations by fans of players such as Terrell Edmunds, MR, Pickett, Najee and Broderick Jones as all being wasted picks so again do tell me why 1 doesn’t have to see a player to evaluation?
Uhh 87, Dave didn’t write what you are claiming in your first sentence above. Re-examination of the six paragraphs under the subtitle of Dave’s article will confirm this.
Players are evaluated by scouts and coaches prior to players being placed on a field inside a stadium, are they not? Fans get to see to evaluate zero regarding any player’s ability before scouts and coaches do–and Dave writes of his feelings of this in paragraph five under the article’s subtitle above. While I dislike the idea Dave poses in paragraph five, and based on what you write, I’m compelled to think Dave has the correct view of current fandom.
Yes, he did Matt. The exact words were: STEELER FANS DON’T HAVE TO SEE A PLAYER ON THE FIELD FOR THERE TO BE AN EVALUATION. Literally the words are printed in Big Bold Letters. Yes, his buddy Jeff said he wanted to Howard play but the premise of the article that fans don’t need to see the player on the field to get an evaluation. I’ve talked with many Steeler fans, and they let themselves be clear in their words that they have an over expectation of certain players.
I mentioned 4 guys who fall under that fit the over expectation that fans have. When I see a rookie, I feel that it’s better to let them grow and learn and see a much bigger body of work and not base their evaluation after 1 year or a handful of games.
Dave feels 1 way but to me I’ve read many comments from fans who if they saw the article would probably laugh hysterically.
87, we have progress! You have read the subtitle to re-type it–move next to the six following paragraphs. They will clear things up, or not. I dunno at this point.
They do say laughter is the best medicine.
Yeah, you completely missed it. Remember, titles can only be so long so I have to try to be concise. That is why I went on to explain it all. If I could have, I would’ve added to the end of it “by the Steelers.”
Just because fans don’t get to evaluate a player doesn’t mean that there’s no evaluation being done. That does not mean by the fans. The fans evaluation isn’t what is important. Yes, it can make you feel better. The bottom line is an evaluation is taking place by the Steelers even if the fans don’t see it. That was the whole point of the article. I’m sorry if you didn’t get it.
Dave you and matt feel that fans evaluation doesn’t matter but trust me when I say I’ve come across many fans who see it the other way. Many of these fans take joy in writing off a player or just flat out dismiss them but for me I’d rather wait and see. Yes, the only evaluation that matters is from the team itself but be honest with me Dave what % of fans actually see it that way?
Literally every fan I know. Like seriously every single fan. Not just Steelers fans either, I live I Baltimore, and every fan of the Ravens I know are are also fully aware that their player evaluations mean absolutely nothing, nada, zero, zippy.
Ouch, JoeB. I don’t give Ravens’ fans credit fer nuthin’. Yer a good feller.
Yeah okay, my wife’s family are Ravens’ fans, IRL.
Fans’s evaluation of players matters to themselves, certainly. And yes, the only evaluation of players that matters is made by the team that hires those players, so we concur.
Mr. 87, we can school all of those folks you speak of, together. What do you say? I’m a wait-and-see kinda guy, especially during the NBA season.
That’s fine with me. I’m letting you Matt and Dave as well that I can guarantee you that there will be many fans who make their evaluations of Harmon, Johnson, Howard and Sawyer be known to many who will listen that you can take my word for that.
Aww, c’mon. Oh well, the sun shall rise tomorrow. Reminds of what Col. Holt told us at Aberdeen Proving Ground, back in the day.
I’m not disagreeing with that at all. That absolutely happens. But that was not what this article was about. This article was about fans complaining and wanting to see a player to know what they can do and claiming the only way to do it is for them to be in a game. That’s the way a fan can evaluate. But the Steelers have to evaluate that player to appoint to even put them in the game. That was the point. Your point is extremely valid, just the opposite of end of the same subject. Your point of evaluating too quickly is spot on, but fans will also complain that they can’t evaluate someone because they never get to see them. Then they’ll start complaining that they don’t see these players in a game and how else will the Steelers know what they have. But the Steelers will have seen them.
Dave, you’re a kind fellow, I say this in ernest. Chemistry, it really is just applied physics after all.
That may be true 87, but it’s also true that their evaluation of said player doesn’t mean sh*t in the whole scheme of team player evaluation. And what I read as the “point” of the article is that many fans — and there are MANY — think the evaluation of a player by a team can’t be complete until the fan sees them on the field. While that may be true in a fans mind, it certainly is not true in a team/player sense.
That’s true but telling them that is a lost cause. I can guarantee you that after Week 1 should Johnson and Harmon play okay the fans will make a quick uneducated evaluation. I take the approach of I need a full season to evaluate that player.
87, maybe consider reading Dave’s title as follows: “Popular Opinion: Steelers fans have to see a player on the field for there to be an evaluation.” Dave agrees with you, 87. Heck. even I do. Feel better. Col. Holt was a stern fellow, but he could be warm-hearted.
Don’t know where my Wff-and-Proof set is, been some time since I studied symbolic logic.
And, why care about other’s evaluation approaches?
At first when I read the title, I read it more as the Steelers see value in players even if they don’t play, or even plan on playing them(like locker room guys). But obviously after reading, this article is more about knowing what they have in a player without them seeing the field. I’m really excited about the leadership and character a lot of these guys have. I think I may not be as concerned about roman Wilson as I should be haha. I was concerned that he wasn’t playing, but I have a greater feeling hes a guy who doesn’t make the 2026 team then a guy who’s a legit starter
Of course there’s an evaluation. That’s why Howard was drafted. Its also why he was drafted in the sixth round. The cake is half baked; it might smell good, but the proof is in the eating.. At this stage of the process, JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf were much more valuable than Tom Brady and Brock Purdy. The last time the Steelers drafted a QB in the Sixth round, they got Spence Fisher (in 1996). So how’s it gonna be? We’ll get a first little taste in preseason, but even then . . . Big Ben was an immediate star, but today’s overactive media would have spent three years calling Terry Bradshaw a bust. My “evaluation” for now is that Howard is likely to be neither, and if he has a chance to be the Steelers’ next Charlie Batch or Mason Rudolph well, that’s pretty good.
a true Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since 70’s yes! I need to look at the Steelers draft picks and undrafted free agents because some of those players I don’t get to see in College and see how those players get use to playing in the N.F.L. and that’s why I keep saying the preseason shuold be 4 games
NFLPA may have tough time with 4 games, and you’re understood.