Former Pittsburgh Steelers’ cornerback Joe Haden has been out of the league for over a year now. Officially retired, he’s dabbled in the media game, making appearances on The Rich Eisen Show and other prominent platforms. Tuesday, Haden was a guest analyst on ESPN’s NFL Live as the panel reacted to Tomlin’s recent team speech that went viral in the football world.
Haden sat in those meetings and heard those motivational blurbs from Tomlin on a consistent basis, making him the perfect person to ask about what it was like playing for him.
“He speaks so passionately,” Haden said. “He speaks just so thorough. He gets through to his team. We understand what he’s saying. He just wants the best from his players. I think the one thing that NFL players want is honesty. They want your coaches to let you know where you stand, how you stand, what I can do better. What do you need from me. That’s the one thing Coach Tomlin’s always going to give you.”
If you missed out or need a refresher, the Steelers’ social media team posted a snippet of Tomlin talking to his players during OTAs. The message revolved around “reasonable expectations” telling the group they all had to get better and that players who were no longer rookies would have the bar raised as they got more comfortable in the NFL.
“You need to continually be a guy on the rise,” Tomlin said in the clip. “That is a reasonable expectation. As opposed to coming in here and just putting in time.”
Haden quickly signed with the Steelers shortly after getting released by the Cleveland Browns ahead of the 2017 season. He spent five years in Pittsburgh before hitting free agency after 2021, Father Time catching up and leading to his retirement.
As Haden noted, the main things players want is honesty. Not to be told one thing and then watch something else happen. Tomlin has bristled as the notion that he’s a “player’s coach” because it suggests someone is your friend, not your coach. But he’s gotten that label because of his honesty and how clear he is in his expectations of his players, something he’s talked about during the handful of interviews and podcasts he gives throughout each offseason.
Tomlin is the second-longest continually tenured coach in the NFL, only trailing Bill Belichick. Like Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, he figures to be able to coach in Pittsburgh until he doesn’t want to anymore, retiring instead of being fired. He, like his teams, are remarkably consistent and unwavering in the face of adversity. Still, the pressure is on for him and his team to win a postseason game, something that last happened in 2016.
