Buy Or Sell: The Steelers should retain former quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan as a Senior Offensive Assistant.
Explanation: Mike Tomlin has only used “Senior X Assistant” as a title twice before. They first gave that to Teryl Austin on the defensive side, and he later became defensive coordinator. Brian Flores wore the title in 2022 before taking a defensive coordinator job the following year. With the Steelers reportedly hiring a new quarterbacks coach, they can continue to work with Sullivan in this capacity.
Buy:
First of all, nothing is even official yet. The Steelers haven’t announced hiring Tom Arth as quarterbacks coach. There is already a report that they intend to keep Mike Sullivan in some capacity as well. The reality is that teams regularly shift coaching responsibilities among those on staff. The Steelers shifted Randy Fichtner from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach in 2010, for example.
There doesn’t seem to be an open position coach role, though. And Tomlin already showed he thinks highly of Sullivan when assigning him play-calling responsibilities. He may not be a former head coach, but that seems like a Senior Assistant type of responsibility.
The players do genuinely seem to like him. His background and coaching style tend to command a considerable amount of respect. And let’s be honest, it’s not entirely fair to judge his work as quarterbacks coach without considering the talent concerned.
Sell:
The Steelers underwent arguably their worst stretch of football in years with Sullivan as play caller. Yes, a lot of that had to do with Mitch Trubisky during that three-game losing streak. But they got better out of Trubisky before. The quarterbacks coach and play caller has to bear some responsibility for that.
Sullivan has had two previous stints as an offensive coordinator, neither of which lasted long. Four seasons combined. His resume does not exactly scream for a bigger role than position coach. And if he’s not going to be position coach, he might as well find another team. Tomlin can hire somebody else to add to his staff without keeping the same architects of a bad offense.
With the Steelers’ 2023 season in the rearview mirror following a disappointing year that came up short in the playoffs once again, it’s time to start asking more questions. Questions about the team’s future in 2024 and beyond. Questions about The Standard.
The rookie class of a year ago was on the whole impressive, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2024. And they likely need a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2024 NFL draft yet again. In addition to a revisitation of the coaching staff.
These sorts of uncertainties are 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).
