Add DeShon Elliott to the long list of players who praise Mike Tomlin as their favorite head coach. The former Baltimore Ravens safety is in his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but that’s all it has taken to win him over. And it didn’t take much, because there’s one key trait he and other players value in which Tomlin differs.
“He’s always been transparent with me since being here”, Elliott said of Tomlin, via the Steelers’ website. “He’s the only coach I’ve had in the NFL who’s like that. That’s why he’s my favorite head coach. But everywhere I go, I don’t really care if people care about me being transparent or not. It’s just who I am”.
It’s always interesting when players make a comment like that because it’s not hard to trace their background. DeShon Elliott spent his first four seasons under John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens. He spent one season with the Detroit Lions with Dan Campbell. Then he spent one season working with Mike McDaniel with the Miami Dolphins. And he said that Mike Tomlin is transparent in ways they were not.
That’s a big deal to players, and Elliott is far from the first person to say it. Many players past and present have emphasized that quality of Tomlin, who always lets you know where you stand. It carries a lot of weight, Elliott said, “because it makes everybody realize that we can trust him. And when you can trust your head coach, you can believe anything he says”.
Of course, trust and transparency don’t buy you playoff wins. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are looking for their first since 2016, before DeShon Elliott was even in the NFL. And Elliott himself, drafted in 2018, has only experienced a playoff win once.
A few weeks ago, it looked like the Steelers might actually break their playoff curse, even make a run. Tomlin has only won a postseason game in four of his first 17 NFL seasons (2008, 2010, 2015, and 2016). With defensive reinforcements like Elliott, though, they seemed poised to get back on track.
In recent weeks, enthusiasm for a Steelers playoff push has diminished. A three-game losing streak will do that, in the process of which they relinquished control over the AFC North. Tomlin hasn’t won a division title since 2020, Elliott last in 2019.
But at least there is a mutual level of trust and respect there. I suppose it’s better to have that trust than not, and it’s certainly not causing losses. Actually, DeShon Elliott’s recent injury may have played a decent part in their losing streak. If only Tomlin had a more adequate plan to fill in the gap until Elliott made his way back, we may be having a different discussion.
