PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t a stagnant team in Mike Tomlin’s opinion.
He said Tuesday that being locked down would suggest the organization is powerless, but he doesn’t feel that.
So does that mean he’s optimistic about the team’s direction after making the postseason for the fifth straight time?
not quite.
“I don’t know if I’m overly optimistic or prepared to sell you optimism,” Tomlin said. “I’m just acknowledging what has happened, what needs to happen and what is starting to happen, and I acknowledge the volume and complexity of the work ahead of us.
“I definitely feel capable, but I don’t feel like I’m selling optimism or optimism at all. I don’t know if that’s appropriate.”
The Steelers are stuck between lethargy and optimism, according to the coach.
The Steelers have won 80 regular season games over the last eight seasons. They are 0-5 without a playoff game in that same period. Tomlin said Tuesday that his players often joke with him about one of his favorite clichés. “2 is a pattern.” How about 5?
The Steelers’ current system is designed to maintain stability. Under Tomlin, they have gone undefeated for 18 seasons. However, those regular season wins didn’t get them closer to the top teams in the AFC, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills. Due to their undefeated seasons, the Steelers have consistently drafted in the latter half of the first round. This year, they have the 21st pick. And while third-year general manager Omar Khan has shown a willingness to be more aggressive on the trade market, organizations that follow suit have shown little willingness to move the kind of capital needed to acquire top-10 franchise-changing picks. It wasn’t. .
Tomlin pledged Tuesday there would be change. After a 10-3 start collapsed into a 10-8 season and another first-round playoff exit, this change may be inevitable.
He said, “Although the results were similar, rest assured that we are not doing the same thing and hoping for a different result.” “We have adapted, we have changed our approach but we will continue because we are not getting what we want, which is the confetti game of becoming world champions.
“Our goals are really clear. It’s also really clear that we’re falling short of our goals, and we’re falling short of our goals in a consistent way. We’ll still be open to adapting.”
Tomlin isn’t going anywhere, in part because he signed a three-year extension before the 2024 season and has told teams they might inquire about a possible trade to “save time.” Still, there are other changes he and the organization could make to get the Steelers out of the cycle of above-average but not good enough NFL seasons. There are three things to consider:
Trade an impact player or two
Tomlin is off the trade market, but the Steelers have several other valuable options that could turn into premium draft picks. Linebacker TJ Watt is their most valuable prospect, but he’s adamant he doesn’t want to go anywhere else. The Steelers need to respect that. But only if you plan to use a defensive scheme or philosophy that allows you to have a greater impact when the game matters most. Watt, a perennial NFL Defensive Player of the Year contender, did not record a solo tackle, assist, interception, quarterback hit, forced fumble, fumble recovery or sack in his final 117 snaps of the season. His last sacks came in Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Use Watt more effectively or use him to build a team that can compete through the draft.
Watt said Monday that he is willing to move more, which has produced promising results in a small sample size this season.
Watts aside, the Steelers have a pair of other tradable players in receiver George Pickens and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Parting ways with Fitzpatrick, who joined the Steelers in an unprecedented move when former GM Kevin Colbert sent a first-round pick to the Miami Dolphins in 2019 in exchange for safety, would free up $24.2 million in cap space over the next two years. will be secured. .
That means the Steelers are running out of Joey Porter Jr. That’s money that could be invested in another blockade corner on the other side. Pending free agent Donte Jackson was productive early in his lone season with the team, but a nagging back injury hampered his effectiveness in the second half of the season. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin decided to use Fitzpatrick as the last line of defense this season, which left him in no position to make the game-changing plays that were his calling cards early in his career. Fitzpatrick has only one interception in his last two seasons with the Steelers. Similar to Watt, the team could be substantially improved by better integrating Fitzpatrick or using the capital and cap space gained from a potential trade.
Trading Pickens may seem counterintuitive because the team still lacks wide receiver depth. But the third-year pass catcher is ready to enter the offseason eligible for a contract extension.
Pickens’ talent is undeniable and he made several acrobatic catches during the season. But despite all his positives, there are some red flags. In December, he incurred Tomlin’s ire for being called for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“He’s got to grow,” Tomlin said at the time. “He needs to grow up quickly.”
He was also disruptive off the field. Pickens was not spotted during player arrivals at the usual window before the Chiefs’ game on Christmas Day, and Tomlin said Tuesday he could not say for sure whether Pickens had arrived late. A week later, during a Week 18 loss to the Bengals, Pickens appeared to gesture and engage with fans in the crowd while Pat Freiermuth blocked him. A season ago, Tomlin had to address Pickens’ apparent lack of effort in a game against the Colts.
“There’s definitely more room to grow,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “I think he’s covered some ground in 2024, but there’s certainly a lot more ground to cover and we’ll see where that leaves us.”
With so much growth still left, making a significant financial investment in Pickens is a risky proposition.
The Steelers could draft a wide receiver like Missouri’s Luther Burden III or Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka, or they could use the money they would have paid Pickens to sign a top-tier free agent like Tee Higgins, Chris Godwin or Amari Cooper. Stefon Diggs.
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Schefter: There’s no indication the Steelers want to move on from Tomlin.
Adam Schefter and Rex Ryan talk about Mike Tomlin and the future of the Steelers after six straight playoff losses.
Ever since the Steelers acquired Fields and Russell Wilson last offseason, Wilson has been viewed as the QB1 in the organization. After finally returning from a calf injury, Wilson’s play became more and more distant, even though he started the passing game.
“Obviously it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, and I think there’s a lot more work to be done,” he told reporters on Monday.
Wilson would like to return in 2025, but the Steelers should be wary of putting resources into a 36-year-old quarterback who has been inconsistent and has made questionable decisions when it matters most.
Fields’ time as a starter was brief, but he showed promising signs as a mobile dual-threat quarterback. Giving him a full offseason in “pole position,” to borrow Tomlin’s offseason phrase describing Wilson’s previous ranking, could develop him further and give the offense a chance to build around his skills. there is.
“The way he’s managed his professional situation has been really impressive,” Tomlin said of Fields’ potential to be the Steelers’ 2025 starter. “I thought he brought a sense of urgency to the day-to-day work, regardless of his role. I thought he continued to get better within our ball system throughout the process. I thought the way he carried himself made sense. I thought it was an idea at this point.”
The Steelers also need to explore the free agent and trade markets (hello Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers). You’ll also need to exercise caution and patience in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Steelers secured Kenny Pickett with the No. 20 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. That’s one pick earlier than this season’s slot. Not only was he unsuccessful, but the free agent signing and immediate lame duck starter Mitchell Trubisky created an awkward situation. This quarterback class is arguably worse. The Steelers likely won’t land Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders unless they make a trade to move into the top five.
But the Steelers could be better prepared for the future if they forego using premium draft capital to land a quarterback this time around and rely on Fields, a late-round rookie and low-cost vet. This could put the team in a better position for a higher draft pick in 2026, when they could bottom out in 2025 but have quarterbacks including Arch Manning, Carson Beck, Nico Iamaleava and Cade Klubnik available.
Make difficult employee changes
The most likely change to come to the Steelers is on the coaching staff. Even if the root cause of the problem is not the person responsible.
Austin, who was promoted from senior defensive assistant to coordinator following Keith Butler’s retirement in 2022, oversaw a defense that fell significantly during the final five games of the 2024 season. The Steelers finished the season ranked 16th in yards allowed (334.3 yards per game), 10th in rush defense (109.8), and 23rd in pass defense (224.5). Each score is slightly better than a season ago, but the final numbers don’t fully reflect the steep decline for the league’s best quarterback and offense.
In their last three games with Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes, the Steelers ranked last in the league, giving up an average of 389 total yards, 243.7 passing yards and 145.3 rushing yards.
The Steelers had a productive forced takeaway early in the season, but after recording 28 in their first 13 games, they had just 5 over their last 5 games.
This decline suggests that the Steelers need other ideas, or another voice to convey those ideas. If the Steelers part ways with Austin, we could look at candidates like former Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who helped the Bengals reach the Super Bowl in the 2021 season, or former Ravens DC Wink Martindale, now known for being aggressive and aggressive with Michigan DC. Exotic Blitz Package.
Another big impact change is in the offensive line room with position coach Pat Meyer. The Steelers invested significant resources at the position, but they also brought in Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels while also using back-to-back first-round picks to select Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu, as well as a 2024 early-round pick for center Zach Frazier and guard Mason. . McCormick’s line play was still average.
Despite bringing in offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to revitalize the run game, the Steelers averaged 121.7 rushing yards, slightly better than their 2023 average of 117.6. Over the last three games, the run game has dipped to 101.7 yards per game, and they mustered just 29 yards in the wild-card loss. The Steelers also gave up 49 sacks. Now is the time to see more return on that offensive line investment.
Part of that was bad luck due to Fautanu’s season-ending injury before the season began, with both Seumalo and Jones suffering injuries early on. Daniels was injured in the game against Indianapolis and is out for the season. Despite this, Jones’ progress stalled and McCormick struggled of late. With four second- and third-year players on the early projected starting lineup for next season, the Steelers need an offensive line coach with a proven track record of development.
