The offseason is inevitably a period of projection and speculation, which makes it the ideal time to ponder the hypotheticals that the Pittsburgh Steelers will face over the course of the next year, whether it is addressing free agency, the draft, performance on the field, or some more ephemeral topic.
That is what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
The range of topics will be intentionally wide, from the general to the specific, from the immediate to that in the far future. And as we all tend to have an opinion on just about everything, I invite you to share your own each morning on the topic statement of the day.
Topic Statement: The Steelers will announced Jerricho Cotchery as their wide receivers coach very soon.
Explanation: It was reported that Brandon McClendon, who had previously been (falsely) reported as being hired as the Steelers’ next wide receivers coach, is staying in his current position. The only other known interview for the job is Jerricho Cotchery. The NFL Scouting Combine and Pro Days are just around the corner, so they will want their wide receivers coach in place as soon as possible.
Buy:
Given the timing, it’s hard to find any other conclusion than an imminent announcement of Jerricho Cotchery being revealed as the Steelers’ next wide receivers coach. It may even happen by the time this publishes. While it’s possible other candidates have been interviewed, there is a reason he was one of only two whose names actually surfaced.
Let’s not ignore the fact that Mike Tomlin has a fairly extensive track record of hiring former players. Even ones who played under him, with William Gay and David Johnson acting as coaching interns last year. Cotchery is relatively new to coaching but has been doing it for a couple of years with the Carolina Panthers, whom of course the Steelers see in the preseason every year.
Sell:
It’s guaranteed that the Steelers interviewed more than two candidates for the wide receiver coach job. If they had only interviewed two, then one of them would have been hired by now. It’s the middle of February for a team who hadn’t even made it to the postseason and who knew since August that they would have a vacancy.
Given how long it’s taking, that increases the odds that the name is going to come from somewhere else. And the names do tend to pop up. Guys like Matt Canada and Eddie Faulkner and Karl Dunbar were not on the radar before they were hired. Teryl Austin and Tom Bradley came out of nowhere. Just because we heard a name doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
