Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin has few contemporaries that can match his verbal eloquence. He can literally say nothing, yet speak volumes. There are other times when Tomlin can go on with one word or catchy phrase after another and at the end, his words mean absolutely nothing. When asked about whether he was happy with offensive tackles this week he said, “Happy is a dangerous word.” He instead said, “comfortable.” While many took that to mean that offensive tackle is off the board early in the Draft, I took it exactly the opposite. One thing that Tomlin has made perfectly clear is that he wants this offense to be ‘old school.’
He wants to run the ball behind an aggressive offensive line which will help protect his young quarterback. Is this possible in a “pass-happy” NFL where running the ball has become an afterthought and running backs are valued less than tight ends, cornerbacks and EDGE rushers? For starters, take a look at Betway where you can see what they think of Tomlin’s future team. They have great opportunities to place your next sports bet! Tomlin’s current, starting tackles are Dan Moore, Jr and Chuks Okorafor. The latter is on a second, very team-friendly contract while the former is still on a rookie deal.
Neither of these guys is what I would call “aggressive” and both lack the type of attitude that Tomlin appears to want. Many have taken to using Pro Football Focus as their evidence for why the Steelers need to upgrade here. You don’t need to do that. Use your own eyes and judge for yourself.
If you look at the two guys the Steelers signed to their offensive line in free agency, then you see two players who have exactly the type of attitude that Tomlin is looking for in his offensive line. Nate Herbig and Isaac Seumalo are both ‘nasty.’ They get into defenders and move them with their power and aggressiveness. That’s exactly what Tomlin wants in his tackles.
Now the possibility does exist that I’m wrong here and Tomlin is in fact content with Moore, Jr and Okorafor. This wouldn’t be the first time -nor the last – that I’ve been wrong but let’s do a little homework here. The top offensive tackles in this Draft are at Ohio State (Paris Johnson and Dawand Jones), Georgia (Broderick Jones), Northwestern and Tennessee (Darnell Wright). Tomlin has been to both OSU and Georgia while Offensive Line Coach Pat Meyer attended Northwestern to see Peter Skoronski who is thought to be a better guard than a tackle.
All of these guys fit exactly what Tomlin is looking for and we won’t know until opening night of the Draft whether he’s been honest or not. The Steelers are notorious for taking the ‘best player available’ in the first round if they stand pat and I think that’s going to be the most intriguing part of this whole thing. Make no mistake though, Tomlin wants to run the ball, protect his QB and play defense. Like it or not, ‘old school’ is back in Pittsburgh.
