Does anyone know what the Pittsburgh Steelers are doing? In their quest for a new offensive coordinator the organization appears to be doing little to follow Mike Tomlin’s comments about “finding a guy with play-calling experience.”
The Steelers immediately broke that very claim by interviewing Jerrod Johnson, the Houston Texans’ Quarterbacks Coach, who has never called plays. They also interviewed Thomas Brown who has one year of play-calling experience which was this past season with Carolina.
Two guys that were immediately rumored to be coming to Pittsburgh, Zac Robinson and Kliff Kingsbury, have yet to arrive in the Steel City. Robinson won’t be coming at all as he’s agreed to become the coordinator in Atlanta where he joins fellow former Rams’ coach Raheem Morris. As for Kingsbury, at the time of this writing there is no indication he is coming in for a visit.
With the Steelers already entertaining guys who don’t have that play-calling experience Tomlin talked about, some of the hottest names out there are interviewing. Klint Kubiak and Brian Greise have both interviewed with the New Orleans Saints and are expected to get more interviews.
So What Is Happening?
There are two reasons that I believe are causing the Steelers to be much less active than most of us anticipated. Some of you would disagree on the order of these two things but understand that both are equally significant in my opinion. First is that the Steelers are notoriously cheap. Former OC Matt Canada was earning $700,000 per year when he was finally fired. That ranked near the bottom of the NFL despite the Steelers being a popular and highly successful franchise. Coordinator candidates, whether young or old, aren’t going to come here for peanuts.
The second issue is the quarterback room. Right now, Kenny Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky are under contract and Trubisky is highly likely to be cut. Mason Rudolph, who played so well down the stretch, is set to become a free agent and there is no guarantee he will be back. Other teams have now seen that he can be a more than capable backup and perhaps starter. We could easily argue that Pittsburgh offers Rudolph the best opportunity to become a starter but a lot of that will be up to him.
A candidate for the offensive coordinator position is going to ask what the team’s approach is for the QB spot. If, and I have no knowledge of this, the Steelers are toying with the idea of drafting another quarterback high in the draft then they are going to be shy about saying so. If the Steelers tell a candidate that’s the plan and they end up going elsewhere, then they are highly likely to spread that plan to other teams. Therefore, the Steelers would have to be cautious in their interviews.
My gut feeling all along is that Mike Tomlin has a plan. And that plan likely centers around a veteran play-caller who has little to lose. Turning Kenny Pickett into a top half QB would be a feather in his cap while not doing that – and struggling – wouldn’t mean much for his career. It’s the type of low risk hire we’ve come to expect from Tomlin and the Steelers.
