Former Cowboy Brock Hoffman, known for his toughness, reunites with Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh, signing a one-year deal after a controversial Dallas departure.
FRISCO - The much-rumored move of Brock Hoffman from the Dallas Cowboys to the Pittsburgh Steelers via free agency is now official, with the attraction an obvious one.
Tough-guy O-lineman Hoffman is joining former Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, now the head coach in his native Pittsburgh, where dad Joe McCarthy used to own a bar (in addition to serving as a policeman and a fireman).
McCarthy used to glowingly refer to the undrafted Hoffman as the kind of guy you’d like to have on your side in a bar brawl.
And now Hoffman - who controversially to some was not given a tender offer by the Cowboys - is indeed on Big Mike’s side, having reportedly signed a one-year deal with the Steelers.
That ends a run of four years in Dallas for Hoffman, who was undrafted in 2022 and was cut by the before signing with the Cowboys. … where he became a part-time starter who can play guard or center.
Hoffman (6-4, 302), 26, is part of an offensive line shuffle as the Cowboys opted to tender guard TJ Bass (at $5.7 million) while passing on doing the same Hoffman.
Brock’s unhappy response to that decision was to tweet a Biblical note on betrayal.
He wrote: “Psalm 41:9 - Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”
Hoffman was an iron man here if doers, as he played all 51 games in the last three years. And Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer recently said of him and Bass, “ Both of those guys are studs. They’re glue pieces for us. They’re always prepared, they’re ready. Both of those guys could start for other teams in the league.”
Dallas nevertheless went a cheaper route and signed Falcons veteran offensive lineman Matt Hennessy, and he is expected to fill the role left open by Hoffman.
So Dallas got Hennessy on a one-year, $1.4 million contract. In Pittsburgh gets a “bar-brawler” in Hoffman.