An Inspirational Story on Troy Polamalu

[Steeler Nation]

In 2004, the Pittsburgh Steelers made some coaching changes that significantly would impact the success for the rest of the decade. The most notable change was the re-hiring of Dick LeBeau as defensive coordinator. LeBeau brought in Ray Horton to assist defensive backs coach Darren Perry to fix a secondary that was going through more of an overhaul than a transition.

The big story was Troy Polamalu. He arrived with a lot of hype when the Steelers traded up 11 spots to draft him, the first time in franchise history that the Steelers moved up in the first round. But his rookie season fell short of expectations as he was the nickel safety and didn’t start a game. He began to doubt himself, but his teammates and coaches did not. They saw the progress and Joey Porter was particularly outspoken about it, citing “the defense is okay with the mistakes; we want him out there. Even on the bad plays, you saw that flash from Troy.” Bill Cowher would admit that he “did him more a disservice because we put him in so many different positions.” But they saw the progress even if others did not.

The struggles that Polamalu went through as a rookie became fodder for the national media, especially those who did not see Polamalu with the same value as the Steelers did. But perhaps no one got it more wrong than the Detroit Lions, as Horton was their defensive backs coach and recalled the reaction from the Lions organization when discussing Polamalu in preparation for the 2003 NFL Draft.

Ray Horton, per The Inspirational Story of Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu by Jim Wexell:

I was coaching for Detroit and viewed him as the best safety in the draft, and at Detroit I kind of got laughed at for my grade. They didn’t think he was worthy. I got ostracized. The next year, I end up in Pittsburgh and, for me, the rest is history because he validated what I thought of him.

What didn’t the Lions like about him? Well, it would be easier to tell you what they liked about him: nothing. They didn’t like him. We’re there in Detroit watching the draft. Everybody’s in the draft room. The commissioner says, “There’s a trade. Kansas City has traded with Pittsburgh.” In the room, they’re wondering who did Pittsburgh trade up for? Obviously, nobody knew. So, when the commissioner said it’s Troy Polamalu, everybody turned and looked at me. I put my hands up like “I told you. I told you.” They were stunned that that happened. Really, the look in that room towards me was the look on Aaron Rodgers’ face a couple years later as he sat there and sat there and sat there and sat there. It was just reversed. They thought it was unbelievable that someone would trade up to get him.

This was during the disastrous reign of Matt Millen, and in 2003, the Lions used the #2 pick on WR Charles Rogers who finished his career with 36 career catches and 4 touchdowns. Counting playoffs, that’s one more catch that Polamalu who finished with 35 career interceptions and scored 6 touchdowns en route to a Hall of Fame career which he was a major component of winning 2 Super Bowls. And the Lions provided insight on why they haven’t been a contender since the 1950s.



Horton, who would coach the secondary through 2010 until he was offered the position of defensive coordinator with the Arizona Cardinals, was proven right and a great example of how much of an impact a good assistant coach can make.

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