WESA Talking Steelers: Art Rooney Jr. could be headed to the Football Hall of Fame

The Pittsburgh Steelers will look to achieve a three-game win streak this Monday night against the visiting New York Giants.

Jim Wexell of 247sports.com spoke with WESA All Things Considered host Jeremy Scott about the matchup.

Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Jeremy Scott: All right, Jim, we’re going to talk about the upcoming game. But first, a little lesson in history is requested from you. Another Rooney could be headed to the Hall of Fame. Art Rooney Jr. was named last week as a quarterfinalist in the contributors category. And I was telling somebody about this. Their response was, ‘Oh, Dan’s son, Art II,’ and I had to explain, ‘No Art, Jr. and Art II are two different people.’

But Art, Jr., who is Dan’s brother and “The Chief’s” son, has held the title as vice president since 1986. Now, you’re a Steelers historian. How was it decided that Dan Rooney would take over as principal owner when Art Rooney, Sr. died?

Jim Wexell: Well, Dan was being worked in since he was just out of college at Duquesne. He forsook his career in architecture. He always wanted to be in architecture. And then he decided to get into football. And you know, his dad, ‘The Chief,’ used him to really get tight with the NFL, learning NFL, the TV, the first TV deals, the appointment of Pete Rozelle, the commissioner, working with the first players union. He learned all of that.

And then in 1965, he began full operations of the team. Buddy Parker had to run all of his wacky trade ideas through Dan instead of The Chief, and they came to loggerheads and Buddy resigned and they didn’t give it back to him as The Chief always did.

So Dan was in a much larger position by the time Art decided that he didn’t want to go into acting in New York City. He came home and told his mom he wanted to work for the Steelers and they put him in ticket sales. And in 1965, that was a pretty boring job. Not many tickets were being sold. And then he said he wanted to go into personnel. And The Chief joked, ‘Well, Buddy Parker’s traded away all our picks for the next 10 years. How bad can Artie hurt us?’

So Artie went into personnel, and with what few picks he did have, he did okay in the ’60s. His first pick was Roy Jefferson in the second round in 1965. And Roy Jefferson became the first diva receiver in Steelers history. I’m not sure about the ’50s, but Roy Jefferson was shuttled after he stood up to Chuck Noll. And you just told stand up to Chuck Noll, coming off a 1-13 season. So he traded Roy Jefferson, but Artie grew in the personnel department and then they hired Bill Nunn.

Artie’s big thing, Artie was a little awkward. But he, like, burst into the interview session with The Chief and Dan and Chuck Noll, and he wanted to know some things. And he was a little perturbed he wasn’t invited. He wanted to know if Chuck was going to let his scouting department have a say, have a big say. And The Chief said, no, it’s going to be all on the coach. And and and Artie said, well, okay, but what about Black players? What’s his racial outlook? And Chuck said, ‘If you can play, you can play. And I have a proven track record in that regard., and Artie, we could talk about that later.’ So Art was satisfied on one of two levels.

And with Bill Nunn and Chuck Noll, they were colorblind and it paid off handsomely. And Art, Jr. was the head of that department. Chuck Noll would eventually call the shots, but Art talked him out of Robert Newhouse and into Franco Harris. Artie talked him into waiting for John Stallworth until the fourth round as Chuck Noll glared at him through a third round where they didn’t have a pick and said, ‘You messed this up if we lose this.’ And he just glared at Artie and muttered at him. And Artie was right.

John Stallworth did last until the fourth round, so Artie had some big maneuvers. And while he’s not definitely in charge — the head coach is always in charge in Pittsburgh — he had his moments. And he was in charge of personnel that built the ’70s.

So that’s why he is a quarterfinalist for the Hall of Fame. And I’d love to see him get in. He’s a really nice guy and a smart guy. He took the brunt of passing on Dan Marino in the ’80s and was fired. He was having trouble getting along with Chuck Noll. He wanted more power for the personnel. But in Pittsburgh, the head coach gets the power. And so he was fired in 1986 from his personnel job that he loved so much and got the title of vice president. And he has held it since. But, you know, he has written a great book, “Ruanaidh,” if you want to read a lot about the Steelers drafting history. “Ruanaidh,” if I’m pronouncing that right, is the book. A lot of great Artie, Jr. stories.

Scott: I know you’d be the man to ask that question.

Wexell: You went right into my wheelhouse, Jeremy.

Scott: I know. I know. That’s the way we do it. We marinate the meat, and then we cook it. We didn’t see any packages for Justin Fields against the Jets. Do you expect that to change, or is he officially a clipboard holder now?

Wexell: I think it can change eventually. As that game went on, I didn’t expect it, although I did expect it before the game. As Russell got his rhythm, I didn’t see any reason to upset it. He was in command. He’s in charge. I saw no reason to shuttle and I don’t know if he’s the kind of a quarterback you’re going to want to shuttle eventually.

But yeah, eventually I do see some kind of packages. Even Russ was doing the quarterback sneaks, and, you know, Justin is probably more sturdy for that. You don’t want Russell getting hurt. So, yeah, I see some happening down the road, but, you know, the other thing, if he gets half the snaps, Justin Fields, they have to give up a fourth round draft pick next year instead of a sixth.

And now Mike Tomlin was adamant that absolutely not will he be counting snaps, will it matter. So he said that. I don’t know if it’ll be in the back of anyone’s mind when it comes to these packages. But when it comes to, say, Russ having a concussion, Justin is definitely going to play. I mean, he’s a backup. He’s a proven backup. A guy who’s proven he can win. He’s going to be the kind of guy that can step in and win for what looks to be a contending team.

Scott: Does the fact Fields got benched for Russell Wilson despite winning four out of six games as the starting quarterback indicate that the Steelers have seen what they need to see out of Fields, and they have seen he is not the quarterback of 2025 and beyond for this franchise.

Wexell: They don’t look ahead that far. They’re not going to. They won’t. They’ll take it all in at the end of the year. And that’s how they operate. Right now, they’re a contending team. They’ll do everything they can to win this year, which might include trading a second round pick for a guy like Cooper Kupp.

Scott: Another marquee receiver for Joey Porter, Jr. this week to defend. Seventh in the league in receptions, fourth in the league in receiving yards per game. We’re talking about Malik Nabers. But is there anyone else on this Giants offense who really scares you?

Wexell: No. In fact, I’m unsure if he’s playing. Is he playing? Have you heard the update out of New York?

Scott: I have not heard that he’s not playing. I saw that the big injury today is Dexter Lawrence. I haven’t seen anything about Malik Nabers.

Wexell: Wow. Dexter Lawrence. That’s a huge blow. Well, Malik Nabers has missed some games of late. I’m unsure it was a concussion or not. Anyway, yeah, he’s the dangerous threat. Otherwise, not much on offense for the Giants.

Scott: All right, Jim, the Steelers are 7-3 all-time when they wear the Color Rush jerseys, as they will be doing Monday night. Will they make it 8-3?

Wexell: They will. You know, they’re most comfortable in the second of back-to-back home games. It’s historic. All three of the great coaches have had that good fortune. Second of back-to-back home games. I don’t know why. Everybody’s comfortable, everybody’s cozy, everybody’s raucous. It’s a Monday night game. It’ll be electric. Everybody’s in love with Russ right now. There won’t be any booing. And they have a bye the following week, so they’ll let it all hang out. Practice was electric [Thursday], and I’m sure they’re going to sustain that.