With the Pittsburgh Steelers losing in the first round of the playoffs again, it looks like they’re back to the drawing board. Despite being one of the best teams in the NFL for much of this season, they fell apart down the stretch. It was ugly, and Mike Tomlin is dealing with a lot of criticism as a result. However, Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter is blaming the Steelers’ way of doing business for their failures.
“In the modern salary cap era, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ system does not work,” Carter said recently on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “You cannot say, ‘I’m not going to participate in free agency.’ All the money that you’re making as a family, your philosophy is obsolete.
“‘Oh, I’m going to only sign a couple of the players that I draft to their second or third contract.’ See, Mike Tomlin’s been battling that.”
In years past, the Steelers have relied on free agency less than many other teams. It wasn’t often that they tried to take a big swing at a free agent. However, that hasn’t really been as true in recent years. Carter’s point might have been valid 10 years ago, but now, not so much.
Last year provides an excellent example. The Steelers were not shy about using free agency to try to shore up some of their weaknesses. They even gave the largest free agent contract in team history to Patrick Queen. They also signed Russell Wilson, DeShon Elliott, and Cameron Johnston. The Steelers were not as idle as Carter is making them out to be.
The 2024 offseason wasn’t an abberation either. The Steelers signed Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels, Elandon Roberts, Cole Holcomb, and others in recent years. They’ve shown a willingness to be more aggressive.
It seems like Carter has more of a problem with the Steelers not re-signing more of their own players, but that also hasn’t been a major issue. For the most part, the Steelers have kept players they’ve drafted who have shown potential. There are exceptions of course, like Javon Hargrave. But no franchise is perfect, and all have to make decisions through the prism of the salary cap.
Alex Highsmith, Pat Freiermuth, and Diontae Johnson are a few examples of players the Steelers have drafted and signed to second contracts. It isn’t often they let good talent walk out the door.
Still, Carter seems to be saying that’s a bigger problem for the Steelers than Tomlin.
“If we’re gonna start talking about Mike Tomlin, and we’re going to start talking about it in the right vein, it should really be about is he limited there in Pittsburgh?” he said.
Where Carter seems off is the reality that personnel decisions are not made without Tomlin’s input. His voice is one of the loudest in that building. He doesn’t just show up on Sundays. Tomlin has just as much to do with the roster as anyone else.
Have the Steelers done a poor job cultivating some of the talent they’ve drafted in recent years? That feels like a fairer question to ask. However, it’s been a few years since the Steelers have been bit players in free agency. That certainly isn’t one of the major reasons they’ve failed to win a playoff game. There’s a good argument to make that Tomlin has been more of an issue than they Steelers’ spending habits.
