The 3-year extension for Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin made him among the highest-paid coaches in the NFL moving forward.
Former Steelers’ running back DeAngelo Williams still feels he’s underpaid, though.
Appearing on Grind City Media’s radio show in Memphis, where he starred in college, Williams stated that Tomlin is underpaid and under-appreciated for everything he’s had to deal with during his tenure with the Steelers.
“They should have gave him an extension a long time ago after they find out like, ‘Hey, we see that AB [Antonio Brown] is not the person that we thought he was.’ We should have gave him an extension then,” Williams said of Tomlin, according to video via Grind City Media on Twitter. “Like, he dealt with that for a very long time. Like this extension, I feel like he’s underpaid for what he had to deal with. All the personalities that have come out now since Tomlin is no longer over them, he deserved this raise, every dollar that he got.
“In fact, he’s gonna probably die early because of all the stuff that he had to go through. So he should have got more, even more money. So I think he’s underpaid, he’s undervalued, and he’s not looked at with the appreciativeness that he deserves.”
.@deangeloRB joins the show and talks all things Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EPHeKdojMu
— Grind City Media (@grindcitymedia) June 12, 2024
During his first 17 years as head coach of the Steelers, Tomlin has had to deal with quite a few personalities, none bigger than the likes of Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell.
The fact that Tomlin was able to keep both of those personalities in line, in check, and pushing towards the same common goal for so long was rather impressive. Once they left the Steelers, though, it fell apart for both of those players.
Not only does Williams believe that Tomlin had to deal with some difficult personalties that probably took a lot out of him, Williams — who played for the Steelers under Tomlin in 2015 and 2016 — saw firsthand the type of pressure and criticism Tomlin faced and dealt with, even while continuing to put together winning seasons, being in the thick of the playoff picture, and competing for Super Bowls.
“He is literally the only coach in the National Football League that his job is on the line every year. And it’s not that he’s not making the playoffs, it’s because he’s not making them win Super Bowls for a long time,” Williams said of Tomlin. “Coach Tomlin has had to deal with the fact that he won a Super Bowl with somebody else’s team. …They came and they won it. And since then everybody’s been at his neck, ‘Hey, we don’t want to just go, we want to win it.’ So it’s a different atmosphere when it comes to being in Pittsburgh. Some teams just want to be a part of the chase, like, ‘Hey, I just wanna be in the mix.’
“No, they already know that they’re gonna be in the mix. They wanna win it all. So it’s the quest of seven. So it’s a different mindset, and because it’s a different mindset among the fans. It’s crazy ’cause he deals with a lot over there, man.”
It is Super Bowl or bust in Pittsburgh at this point, which seems rather crazy. But that’s what the success and the standard have created for the fanbase and the local media. The Steelers haven’t come close to that Super Bowl in a long time. In fact, they haven’t even won a playoff game since 2016.
The winning seasons matter, considering you have to win games to even get to the playoffs. But Tomlin has to get over the hump once he’s in the playoffs, period. He’s a Hall of Fame coach who is in a drought right now. Fortunately for him, the roster is improved entering the 2024 season, and he should have a real shot at winning a playoff game for the first time since 2016.
