Why coaching is responsible for the Steelers Super Bowl drought
By Eric Hassel
Hits and misses abound in the draft for the Steelers since 2009. Could this be the reason for the Steelers Super Bowl drought?
So it’s probably inaccurate to say the draft strategy of the Steelers is Coach Tomlin’s draft strategy as the Steelers are an organization that, by all accounts, adhere to the philosophy that drafting is a “team” approach. Kevin Colbert, who is listed as Vice President and General Manager, is as much involved in the draft process as is Coach Tomlin. I wonder; however, who has the stronger voice in the “war room” on draft day between Colbert and Tomlin?
Since I have never been present in the “war room” on draft day, I can only assume that, if push comes to shove, so to speak, Coach Tomlin would win out over Kevin Colbert. I would suspect that early on in Coach Tomlin’s tenure, perhaps Colbert had a stronger voice. I would be remiss if I did not mention the voices of the position coaches and of the scouts. I am almost positive, although, again, I have never been invited to sit in with the Steelers on draft day, that both the position coaches and the scouts have input on whom the Steelers should draft.Let’s quickly recap the Steelers first-round picks since 2009:
2009-Evander “Ziggy” Hood-Miss;
2010-Maurkice Pouncey-Hit;
2011-Cameron Heyward-Hit;
2012-David DeCastro-Hit;
2013-Jarvis Jones-Miss;
2014-Ryan Shazier-Hit;
2015-Alvin “Bud” Dupree-Question Mark (?);
2016-Artie Burns-Miss;
2017-TJ Watt-Hit;
2018-Terrell Edmunds-Question Mark (?)
To recap, in my estimation, the Steelers under Coach Tomlin have hit on (5) draft picks and have missed on (4) draft picks with (1) question mark over the last ten years. Delving into this a little further, you’ll notice that (8) of last (10) first-round draft picks of the Steelers have been on the defensive side of the ball.I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, in 2006, Mike Tomlin was the D-coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.
That year, the Vikings ranked 14h in Points Against (points surrendered). It’s not surprising that 80% of the Steelers first-round picks over the last decade have been on the defensive side of the ball. This fact leads me to believe that Coach Tomlin probably has the strongest voice in the “war room” on draft day, meaning the draft picks which I labeled as a “miss” fall on Coach Tomlin.
Don’t misunderstand, I realize Coach Tomlin is not out on the road scouting players year round as he is not a scout; however, he and Colbert are out on the road to attend Pro Days. Whatever Coach Tomlin and/or Kevin Colbert saw in Jarvis Jones, for example, as opposed to Tyler Eifert, Desmond Trufant, Xavier Rhodes or DeAndre Hopkins,l all of whom were drafted after Jones, is beyond me.
Although the Steelers have, for the most part, stated their draft philosophy is “best player available”, Jones was clearly not the “best player available”. After an 8-8 season in 2012, maybe the Steelers were looking for a replacement for James Harrison? Well, Ike Taylor was on the wrong side of (30) years of age as well. How could the Steelers pass up Trufant or Rhodes? It’s not like Jones ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash. According to his combine results, he ran a 4.74-second 40; not slow, but not overly fast either.
The other player that stands out to me as a huge “miss” is Artie Burns. Here are the players who were drafted after Burns in the second round: Jaylon Smith, Hunter Henry, Myles Jack, Chris Jones, Xavien Howard and Deion Jones. How would the Steelers defense look right now with Howard and Trufant or Howard and Rhodes or any combination thereof? If the Steelers really wanted to draft a corner, they missed out two years in a row, if you ask meThe bottom line is the Steelers could not have afforded to miss on any first-round picks if we were eyeing a return to the Super Bowl.
Unfortunately, the Steelers have missed on some first-round picks, which is part of the reason we are sitting on a decade long Super Bowl drought, but are the misses in the draft the only reason for the Steelers Super Bowl drought as it relates to coaching? I don’t think so. Let’s explore the Steelers schemes and the coaching of said schemes.