Throughout his 18 seasons at the helm of the Pittsburgh Steelers, head coach Mike Tomlin has been very good at managing egos, keeping players in check and pushing toward the common goal of winning games and chasing a championship.
Eventually, though, it becomes time to move on from players that are headaches, either behind the scenes or in public. And when Tomlin and the Steelers eventually do decide it’s time to move on, they end up fleecing the other team in the trade.
Moves for guys like Santonio Holmes, Martavis Bryant, Antonio Brown, and Chase Claypool come to mind when it comes to the Steelers having a talented player and then moving on via trade under Tomlin. In all four cases, the Steelers came out on top in each trade, both on the field and off the field.
For FOX’s Jay Glazer, who appeared on the NFL on FOX podcast Tuesday, he tries to warn people all the time to not do business with Mike Tomlin when it comes to trades. But time and time again, people don’t listen, and the other team ends up losing in hilarious fashion.
“It is a superpower of his to keep everybody together on that same page. And you don’t hear things about people and Steelers until they leave. I tell people all the time, ‘Don’t do business with Mike Tomlin,'” Glazer said, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “Don’t because you’re gonna think you’re getting this choir boy, and they then come over here and you’re like, ‘Oh, he ain’t a choir boy. Man, this guy’s disruptive.’ Right? It’s hilarious.”
Just two years removed from a star performance in Super Bowl XLIII, Holmes found himself running into trouble off the field, leading to the Steelers moving on from the former first-round pick. They shipped him to the New York Jets for a fifth-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, which was eventually sent to the Arizona Cardinals to reacquire cornerback Bryant McFadden and a sixth-round pick.
That sixth-round pick turned out to be Antonio Brown while the Cardinals drafted quarterback John Skelton with the Jets’ original pick. Holmes never did much with the Jets, then spent one final season with the Chicago Bears before being out of the league.
As for Brown, he went on to become one of the best receivers in NFL history, putting up a five-year run that was largely unheard of, outside of Jerry Rice. But as he became a star and a truly dominant force, Brown’s ego inflated and ultimately got to be too much. A blowup late in the 2018 season saw him walk out of practice and demand a trade.
Eventually, the Steelers flipped him to the then-Oakland Raiders for third- and fifth-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft. Those players became wide receiver Diontae Johnson and tight end Zach Gentry. Brown never played a game for the Raiders, as he was a problem throughout training camp, hurt his feet in a cryotherapy chamber, and put up a fight regarding what helmet he could wear. Ultimately, he demanded his release and was granted it, eventually finishing his career with stops in New England and Tampa Bay, where he won a Super Bowl.
The Steelers also traded Martavis Bryant to the Raiders for a third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Steelers ultimately used that pick to move up a few spots and select quarterback Mason Rudolph while Bryant flamed out with the Raiders and was suspended twice for substance abuse policy violations.
Then, there’s the Claypool trade. It netted a second-round pick from the Chicago Bears, which became the first pick of the second round thanks to the Bears’ record, leading to the Steelers landing cornerback Joey Porter Jr. in the 2023 NFL Draft. Claypool later complained about his role in Chicago, was traded to Miami, spent some time in Buffalo and is now out of the league.
Even the Diontae Johnson trade this past offseason could be thrown into that mix. Johnson is playing well in Carolina, but the Panthers are 1-6. Johnson has stated he can’t play all the positions offensively, which revealed his frustration.
So, when Mike Tomlin has a skills player, particularly on offense, he’s looking to move on from, teams should heed Glazer’s advice and not to business with him. But even with the long list of examples as to why not to, teams still haven’t figured it out yet. And if they haven’t at this point, they aren’t going to.
