Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Cassius Marsh while a member of the New England Patriots on October 22, 2017.
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Cassius Marsh has played for seven different NFL teams during his seven-plus seasons in the league. So the likes of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (nine teams and counting) aside, he has more perspective than most about how different NFL clubs compare to one another.
“I’ve been super, super-lucky with teams in general,” he said during a longform interview on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast with Tom Segura, before going on to laud organizations like the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.
Then: “I played for the Patriots. Not my favorite time,” he said, before going on to elaborate about the experience.
“The Patriot Way is extremely impressive,” he added. “Their work ethic over there is pretty legendary but they also treat players like crap. You don’t have a lunch period. You get there and you have to make time to eat between meetings. There’s no fun—that’s what I got in trouble for saying, that there’s no fun.”
Marsh is referencing the first time he criticized the so-called Patriot Way, back in 2018, when he was critical of the way Bill Belichick and the Pats operate while speaking with Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The interview came not long after Marsh was waived by the Patriots, following a largely unsuccessful nine-game stint with New England in which he was responsible for just 19 total tackles (16 solo) and one sack.
Marsh insists he is one of many players who have similar feelings about the organization.
“Over there nobody says anything because they have won so many championships,” he added. “You don’t want to upset the fan base. If you win the Super Bowl, you can get paid for signings in New England for the rest of your life.”
In fact, he says “a lot” of New England Patriots players “thanked me for making it public about how bad they treat guys.”
Marsh Highlights ‘God-awful’ Speeches of (Former?) Jaguars Coach
Later in the interview with Segura, Marsh offered a complaint about a coach from another NFL team.
“You know what’s really bad? When you have a head coach that is really awful at speeches. Oh, it’s tough, it’s tough,” he lamented. “I’ll just say, I spent a little time with the Jaguars last season and I won’t say what position this coach held but it was a pretty high level, you know what I mean…? And he was God-awful…. It was just a lot of cussing … there was no depth behind it.
“If you were hyped up and ready to go, he might have brought your level down a bit,” Marsh concluded, apparently referring to former Jacksonville head coach Doug Marrone, who was fired in January at the end of a 1-15 season.
Cassius Marsh Joined the Steelers Late Last Year
To date, Marsh, 29, has played just one game in a Steelers uniform, signed to the practice squad and then activated after Bud Dupree suffered a torn ACL during a December game against the Baltimore Ravens. But with Dupree and Ola Adeniyi both lost to the Tennessee Titans in free agency, he has the opportunity to earn a much greater role in 2021, having signed a one-year contract with the Steelers in March.
At the moment, Marsh is penciled in as the primary backup at outside linebacker behind starters T.J. Watt and 2020 third-round pick, Alex Highsmith.
Follow the Heavy on Steelers Facebook page for the latest breaking news, rumors and content!
Also Read:
• Steelers’ Dwayne Haskins Announces Engagement to Kalabrya Gondrezick
• Pressley Harvin III ‘Cut Off’ Falcons Head Coach Arthur Smith to Take Steelers Draft Call
• Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick Recognized as NFL’s ‘Most Complete Safety’
• Steelers’ T.J. Watt Announces Engagement to Aspiring NWSL Player Dani Rhodes
• ’70s Steelers Squad Named Best NFL Team of Super Bowl Era