Steelers 2021 offseason moves leading up to the draft

6. Coach Tomlin signing a 3-year Contract Extension

Whether you like him or you don’t, Coach Mike Tomlin has made a tremendous impact on the Steelers organization and the fanbase since succeeding Bill Cowher at the head coach position. His poise, enthusiasm, confidence, leadership, and intelligence have kept Pittsburgh as relevant as they possibly can be even during stretches we weren’t our best.

There have been many instances that he doesn’t show emotion as greatly as Noll and Cowher did and acting more like a player’s coach than a business one, but he has always kept his team together and statistics do show it. One huge statistic is that he has never had a losing season as head coach, he has gone 8 – 8 in a couple of seasons, but the winning status quo has stood the test of time.

7. No voluntary offseason Training workouts

This really is not a big news headliner since the COVID-19 Pandemic started, many teams have exercised the option to not have team workouts take place, allowing the players to work out on their own keeping virus transmission low. I’ll state this: it didn’t play a factor early on last season since the Steelers were able to go 11 – 0. There were Covid interruptions that rescheduled 2 games, but the Steelers stayed on a swivel. However, down the stretch, physical and mental endurance lacked resulting in the loss of the 5 games. Strength and power were maintained, but not endurance, and if they realized it and fixed their miscues, who knows what would have happened.  Now the big “if” will be how the Steelers can accumulate longevity performance as the season progresses after Pittsburgh’s performance went downhill if there are no collaborative workouts and Covid interruptions.

Based on my 3 bases the Steelers need to check off during this offseason, time will tell on the effect they will face based on the decisions they have made. We’ll know once the Draft commences and Training Camp begins in late July.