Let the off season begin.

I was trying to show him that all these coaches getting hired, and lumped into a certain HCs tree is ridiculous. Example: Matt LaFleur is being said as a McVay coaching tree, yet he started with the Browns, and then the Falcons. So if Matt LaFleur is from the McVay coaching tree. Then Arians is from the Tomlin coaching tree. It's the same many of the coaches that people like to put into a certain coaching tree. They didn't start with them.

 

This.

There is no definition for what counts as being in a coaching tree. Usually it's "if you were ever associated with a coach who has a rep for having a coaching tree, you are in their coaching tree".

Also, the Steelers seem to have a philosophy of hiring older coaches / coordinators. Our best coach since the 70s (LeBeau) was a failed HC who got promoted too far. I personally like this strategy because these guys were usually good coordinator which is why they got HC jobs. I think Haley was Ben's best OC (although he seems to be hard to get along with). It's also why I liked the Smith hire when it happened...although it wasn't as good as I'd hoped (thought certainly an improvement from the very low bar with Canada).

 

It's odd to praise the two cases here that missed the playoffs and penalize the one that made them.

Tomlin clearly had faults. But some people try way too hard to try to make it so everything he ever did was terrible. There's more than one "TDS" IMO.

 

??

Teller wasn't that good. A poor man's McCormick and I do mean poor.

 

I would have like to see Smith once with a good Qb that wasn't over the hill, but that is not in the cards, and he is gone. I just hope we move forward, and do it correctly.

 

I'm also not a fan of the coaching tree talk. But here's a question. Whose coaching tree is worse: Tomlin who never had anyone branch off to interview, or Bellicheck whose coordinators were snapped up everywhere to almost zero success?

I was looking up a list of names and accomplishments (or lack of) to post, and saw an SI article titled The Sad History of the Bill Belichick Coaching Tree. I don't know if I can post links so I'll just say that it pretty much sums up my point.

 

It's a good question.

And I think it's also a reflection of the hiring strategies.

BB hired younger guys. And since he was pretty clearly the best coach and gm in the league, there was a lot of hype around getting young coaches who they hoped learned something.

We hired old guys who'd been around. So there was less hype around them. I'm sure Butler could have failed as a HC as well as guys from BBs tree did. But it didn't make sense to hire an end of career guy who was good at scheming up pressure.

Same reason Wiz was attractive to the Cards as a HC, but no one wanted Grimm for more than a line coach. He retired a year or two later IIRC.

But even if someone believes that these trees exist, why does it matter? The job of a HC is to get his team to win. That's why BB was a better HC than MT.

Not because he was hypothetically seeding the rest of the league with good HCs (I agree with you that it's not clear that was the case).

 

Disagree BB was a good GM. He couldn't draft a WR worth a spit (Brady is probably still cursing him). And his drafts in the last five years were pathetic. ( he did draft a few good OL though).

 

He was a great HC, and not so great GM when it came to drafting.

 

It's funny, because I think he was a better GM than he was a coach (and I think he's the best coach of the UFA+Cap era).

Because he was "the king" of not paying guys for what they had done in the past. And seemed to always let guys walk at just about the right time. I think he was ruthless with contracts and focused on "what am I going to get out of you this contract".

Re: WRs, I think he was correct not to cave to the pressure of paying for a great WR when he had the GOAT QB. Particularly since "throw it to Gronk every play" seemed to be kind of a cheat code. I think he specifically wanted a whole bunch of WR2s and WR3s to force Brady to throw to who was actually open vs. having an elite security blanket like AB.

He also had the advantage of having a QB that was willing to play well below what his true market value was. Which is certainly a big advantage when constructing a roster.

I tend to believe that drafting good players is at least as much about chance as it is a repeatable a skill...but maybe I'm in the minority here.

 

The only guy from Belichick's tree that had a winning record in the NFL was Bill O'Brien.

 

bill had brady that made him look like a genius. bill sucked in cleveland. he wasn't good after brady. he did know how to cheat though.

 

Tomlin and Belichick had one thing in common, they are not "system" guys. They were culture and tone setting first. BB kind of ran different crap every week, especially on defense. Tomlin shifted his defense to align with the skills of the roster. Same on offense.

So you pluck a guy from either organization and unless they have the same force of personality that allowed them to connect with players and motivate them to perform at a high level....there's nothing else there.

Where, in contrast, look at the broad Shanahan-McVay trees or Fangio on defense. Those guys are all a lot of really good things in terms of coaches...but they run a "system" that, in theory, can be taught and learned. So, if you hire the chief coffee runner for McVay, in theory, you have now brought that playbook and that teaching style into your organization.

I'm not explaining this well. But I think many coaches that do not have a good coaching tree, despite success as a coach, it is about the fact that what they are doing is unique to them and can not be replicated.

 

I say that we go after Jordyn Tyson at 21. Wasn't he coached by Hines Ward?

 

the steelers do but mccarthy has no ties to hines. injury history makes me leary but the kid is talented.

 

I don't really know what you're saying, but I think I understand it!

 

tutu atwell. wouldn't be a bad choice as a free agent. i mentioned him before and still think he would be a nice pickup for us along with a draft pick or two.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...S&cvid=69a058dfd9df426193086532219b9fe5&ei=43

has some pro knowledge. has looked pretty good in his supporting role behind two of the best out there.

if it were me i'd go after 5-6 guys in free agency.

pierre
gainwell
kam curl
quay walker
wyatt teller

cut or trade ramsey, queen and smith, harrison. that would be enough money to sign all these guys. i believe this would make a huge improvement to last years model.

 

March 9th will be here before you know it and I hope captain Omar has his helmet strapped on tight.

I'm not looking for "splash signings" and I'll be surprised if any happened.
Our fearless GM and his group of merrymen just need to be above average smart shoppers.
Our needs? They've been hashed out ad nauseum.

QB is obviously the most glaring need. The media seems to be confident that we will go with Rogers.
Some still hope Howard has some magic.
And then there's Mason.
In Free Agency, there are some real duds out there. Omar has to navigate those traps such as Richardson, Murray, Smith, Fields, Mason, Tua and so on, you get the point.
They are fool's gold.
There are also landmines out there like Kirk Cousins. Cousin's is better than the aforementioned duds, but his role and cost are major issues. He's not a good mentor and he like money.
He should also be wary of trading draft picks for a guy like Mac Jones.

Then there is Rogers.
About this time last season there were some doing bellyflops predicting doom and gloom as if they knew the guy personally.
"He's a cancer!" "He's a self-centered SOB!" "He wants money!" "He can't play no more!"
Rogers did none of that and had a decent season on a team whose focus is mostly defense and had no real threats in the passing game.
Especially for a 42-year-old.
But I don't think our front office can stand there pat on that guy to do it again. Rogers survived last year, his stats were pedestrian.

QB is a spot he should shop the Free Agent and trade markets very carefully. There's nothing to say he cannot use Free Agency and/or the Trade Market to find upgrades to positions that support the QB.
I do want him to not sign any 30 and 30+ players, that will get him a "F" real quick. "Bargain Basement, Blue-Light Specials"

 

Steelers meeting with Drew Allar

 

no matter who the QB ends up being you have to protect him and give him legit weapons to use at receiver.

kyle allen is a FA. he has never looked lost on the field. skylar thompson looked pretty darn good last preseason. sam howell is a guy i always wanted us to have and thought we would.

under a legit offensive coach could these guys be That Guy?

then we have mason and i still think can improve under this coaching. will howard we shall see but the kid was very coachable and has talent no matter what round he was drafted in.

could any of these guys be enough if we finish the line and get some offensive weapons to put at their disposal? does it have to be a draft pick? many of those names have some NFL experience and are still young enough so we aren't starting at square one.

i do want to see what howard can do on the field. i think another year as a backup could really help him if he actually gets on the field and can practice in real time. something he didn't get a chance to do under MT and company.

give the young talent a chance to see what they can do. these guys have always had someone in front of them with the bigger contract. they have sat and learned under different coaching and have shown glimpses. could they make and take the next step?

we could chase the next franchise guy for years and never find or we could try some guys with talent that were never really given their shot but have gained experience and could just be fine tuned into the next step up.

all these guys i have mentioned have good heads on their shoulders. sam darnold was in some bad places before he came out of the depths to reach the top. each step helped him achieve. do any of these guys have that talent to evolve into a long term starter? who knows but until they are put into the right situation they won't know.

MT and staff was not a QB friendly place to be. MM and staff may be. if legit pieces are put around them we could find that next gem that's right under people's noses. it's easy to say this guy sucks or that guy sucks but have they been really given the shot they needed?

 

I didn't want to see him ever in the 1st place, he was stuck in 1982. His offense was simply woeful.

 

He's got some tools, rocket arm, size, can run, which is more than can be said for Kenny pickett who we spent a 1st on, Allar isn't going to take that much.

Yes, I know how bad he was at the end, but you gotta have some tools to enter the NFL with.

As late round darts at the QB board go he wouldnt be the worst.

 

Aaron Rodgers was not the problem last year

 

C'mon....He was not a upgrade over Fields or Wilson from the 2024 season.The release time of Rodgers in 2025 was way too fast(I think it was 2.46 per throw)he was afraid to get hit...And the Steelers had no choice but to be a "pass happy team"(a dink and dunk offense in fact) with Rodgers since he could rarely take snaps under the center... He wasn't the only problem, but he was still a major problem.