Mike Tomlin is trying to assemble a Super Bowl team, so he doesn’t care where a good idea comes from. The 19th-year Steelers head coach has seen and done quite a bit, but he’s also held a democratic contribution policy. Despite accusations of tyranny, he has never shied away from hiring former head coaches.
The latest example is Arthur Smith, going into his second year as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator under Tomlin. Another big voice they’ve just brought in is QB Aaron Rodgers, and on the defensive side they have CBs Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey. As he told Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller, he approaches these vets with ears open.
“You’ve got to get a feel for how they see the game, through what lens they see the game, what they do well, what they don’t do well, what’s a natural act for them”, Tomlin said Friday night on Movin’ the Chains on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “It’s just, what are they like, what have they had success with? What excites them? There’s a give and take there. Together we eat, and I don’t care where good ideas come from, man. I’ve been on this job too long to be territorial from an idea perspective”.
Of course, the counterargument to this is the control Mike Tomlin wields over the defense. Even former DC Keith Butler said Tomlin started encroaching on Dick LeBeau’s authority in the latter days of his run. One might argue, though, that had he less respect for LeBeau, he would have fired him years earlier.
Remember, he chose to retain LeBeau when he took over and inherited his system. To this day, Mike Tomlin still runs something similar to what the Steelers ran under the Pro Football Hall of Famer. Not without significant modifications more adapted to today’s game, but the bones remain.
Back to the point, though, Tomlin is listening to his veteran voices, because they are the ones running the show. “It’s a challenge, but it’s also really fun to get to know them to get to understand them, to get to know what they like, what’s in their wheelhouse, what they perform consistently at a high level”, he said of building a working relationship with Rodgers and the like. “At the end of the day, we have to work together”.
As Tomlin, GM Omar Khan, and even team owner Art Rooney II admit, this has been an un-Steelers-like offseason. They have made big, bold moves they are unaccustomed to making, whether that’s in acquisition or sales. They traded George Pickens and Minkah Fitzpatrick, adding Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf. Who would have believed a year ago the Steelers’ starting lineup would include Rodgers, Metcalf, and Ramsey?
But here we are, in one of the most interesting offseasons the Steelers have ever had, the evident master plan of Mike Tomlin and his front office. What will become of it? How will we remember this season five years from now, 10 years? The Aaron Rodgers year, the year of major changes? It doesn’t seem to be one meant for the long haul, so it better make a splash.
