Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher was a guest on The Steam Room podcast hosted by Ernie Johnson and former NBA star Charles Barkley, and Cowher touched on a lot about his time leading the Steelers. One thing he talked about was how it’s harder to fire a coach than cut a player, because sometimes it works out better for a player to go elsewhere. One such case was outside linebacker Mike Vrabel, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Steelers after being selected by the team in the third round of the 1997 draft. While Vrabel wasn’t cut, Cowher said he encouraged Vrabel to go elsewhere for a better opportunity.
“I’ll never forget, Mike Vrabel came in after four years, and I said, ‘Mike, listen, we’re going to offer you a contract,’ but he goes, ‘Well, I can get a lot more.’ I go, ‘You’re probably gonna get a lot more someone else,’ I said, ‘I’ll play you, but you’re probably the third outside linebacker on our team right now.’ He went to New England and had a great career.”
Vrabel was an All-Pro with New England in 2007, and spent another 10 years in the league after leaving Pittsburgh. He never started a game in Pittsburgh but then went on to start 140 with New England and the Kansas City Chiefs. In Pittsburgh, he likely never would’ve taken over as the starter as he was behind Jason Gildon and Joey Porter during his final season in 2000. He was an example of a talented player who just didn’t happen to work out with the Steelers.
Cowher saw the talent, but he was behind two other talented players at the same position. Instead of trying to sell him on a return in a limited role, even if it would’ve made the Steelers deeper, he encouraged Vrabel to do the best thing for his career.
That’s the sign of a good coach and leader. If Vrabel re-signs under the guise of more playing time because Cowher wants to keep him, and then he doesn’t get it, it’s going to hurt the locker room, even if Pittsburgh had more talent because of it. He instead encouraged Vrabel to do what was best for him, and that’s something that players take note of and made Cowher a coach that guys wanted to play for.
It doesn’t always work out for players who leave as well as it did for Vrabel, who ended up with three Lombardi Trophies and 57 career sacks after registering just seven in his four years with Pittsburgh. Vrabel followed in Cowher’s footsteps as a coach himself. And like Cowher, he’s a players coach who got a lot of support from his former players when the Tennessee Titans surprisingly let him go this offseason.
If you believe in karma or things of that nature, Vrabel repaid the favor Cowher and the Steelers did him by encouraging him to leave by leading the Titans to a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18 that led the Steelers into the playoffs. Of course, the Steelers couldn’t take advantage of the berth, losing in the Wild Card round, and now a very interesting offseason is upon us.
