Mike DeFabo, Pittsburgh Steelers Reporter for The Athletic

Mike, how are you, man? Hey, I'm doing great. It's been very crazy the last couple days, but I'm happy to join you to talk about all of it.

It's very much appreciated. I guess the first question is, yeah, Mike Tomlin says he'll be back for next year. It's tough to think that far ahead as to whether or not he's going to get a contract extension. What's the consensus, I would say, of the city, the fans? How are the fans feeling about this news? Well, in Pittsburgh it's very interesting because the local perception is a bit different than national. National, I think people look at the fact that Mike Tomlin in 17 seasons has never had a losing season. They look at this guy that's very well respected around the league. And for that reason, they hold him in high regard.

But locally, the narrative is a little bit different. And that's because this is a proud fan base that's used to competing for Super Bowls. And it's been since 2016 since they've won a playoff game. So it's been seven whole seasons. So fans are a little bit frustrated.

They're fed up with the fact that it seems like every season they're kind of stuck in this 10 and seven, you know, nine and eight purgatory, and they don't have what it takes to get over the edge. So the news here was probably hit people differently depending on their point of view, the people that were Mike Tomlin fans and supporters and understand that this is a guy that has the respect of the players routinely, you know, like the athletic does an annual poll, who's the coach that you would want to play for most like Tomlin to top the list. You know, those people understand it. On the flip side, the people that have their season tickets, and they're frustrated that the Steelers haven't won a playoff game. They're certainly feeling a little bit differently about it. Oh, yeah. Now listen, man, I hear it every time I'm in the city people hitting me up Katie KK just in Ubers people saying fire Tomlin.

I hear about it all the time. How do you feel this is going to play out over the next 12 months as we move into another season and this contract will conclude? Yeah, so it was, it was first of all kind of interesting that Mike Tomlin even got to this position in the first place. Typically, the Steelers like to extend a coach when he has two years remaining on his deal.

So Mike Tomlin, the fact that they didn't extend him last off season was a bit of surprise. And it felt like an extension was inevitable. Um, but when the Steelers hit their rough patch, you know, that eventually culminated with that loss in Indianapolis, that was a third consecutive loss that had just lost back to back games to the two win Cardinals, the two win Patriots. Then they go on the road and they're talking about how it's a playoff game for them.

And then they had a no show performance. Um, you know, people were definitely disappointed in, in wondering about where things would go, but, you know, I always, from what I heard behind the scenes always felt like an extension was inevitable or, or likely if nothing else. So, so now that's probably the next thing that we have to wait and see is do the Steelers really break from precedent and let Mike Tomlin play things out and then possibly become a free agent on the open market, or do they do what they've always done? And, you know, in the next days or weeks or months, come out with a press release saying that they've extended Mike Tomlin.

I, I tend to believe it's going to be the latter. I tend to believe that they're going to give them that contract extension. Um, but we'll, we'll have to wait and see if that actually unfolds Steelers beat writer for the athletic.

Mike, the Fable was joining us here, the JR sport brief show on CBS sports radio. We know you need a head coach, but we also need every NFL team needs a quarterback. What the hell are some of the Steelers options moving into next season? We know about picket. We know about Rudolph what's going on.

Yeah. Well, so, you know, Kenny picket was a guy that he played football at Pitt. And so he kind of had a built-in fan base when the Steelers drafted him two years ago. And it was interesting that the Steelers just played the Buffalo bills because it was actually in that same stadium against those same Buffalo bills that just 15 months ago, Kenny picket made his debut. And at that time, there was definitely a lot of optimism that he could be the next face of the franchise. And if nothing else, the Steelers, they have the highest paid defense in the league. They have a first round running back in Najee Harris. They've invested on the offensive line. It seemed like they really wouldn't need a guy to come in and take over the world, but just to kind of manage a run heavy offense. But in his second season, Kenny picket showed very few signs of growth and he partially lost his opportunity because he had an ankle injury. He ultimately had to undergo tight rope surgery.

Um, but the reality is this. They had a make or break game against the Baltimore Ravens in the season finale. Kenny picket did not get the job. Instead they, they went to Mason root off a third string afterthought. And then ultimately in the playoffs against the Buffalo bills, the same team, Kenny picket 15 months ago made his debut.

It was Mason Rudolph. So, you know, that tells you what the team thinks about him at this point. If it was a different situation, if it was Ben Roethlisberger coming back from an injury, you better believe he would have been out there limping and hobbling around. And the fact that Kenny picket was healthy and they didn't play him tells you that there's some skepticism there, that he's the right guy going forward. So, you know, I think that the most likely scenario is this they'll go out and they'll get a new offensive coordinator and hope that Matt Canada, the former offensive coordinator was just so bad that nothing could operate well. And you hope you bring in some new guy and he helps unlock something that Kenny picket hasn't shown at the NFL level. I think that's probably the most likely scenario, but at this point, I think you do have to consider all options and one of those might be bringing back Mason Rudolph, making him the primary backup or giving him an opportunity to compete.

But really whether it's Kenny picket or Mason Rudolph, you know, they really shouldn't be thinking about which one of those two guys is better. What they should be thinking about is what do we need to do to finally have a quarterback that can stand toe to toe with a legitimate AFC quarterback? You know, you guys in Indianapolis, you've got your quarterback of the future. It seems you've got Lamar Jackson in the Steelers division right now. The Steelers just played Lamar Jackson, you know, Patrick Mahomes.

You need a guy like that. And I don't think that either one of these guys has shown that. So, you know, there's speculation, there's fans here that want to see them trade for Justin Fields. Maybe, um, you know, another crazy option would be going out and spending big money to bring in Kirk Cousins and believing that your, your defense with TJ Watt and Minka Fitzpatrick and Cam Hayward, they can carry you and you just need a quarterback to get over the edge. And then the other option I think would be, um, although I don't think the Steelers would trade up and get into that upper echelon of quarterback, maybe there's a quarterback in this draft that falls, maybe a guy like Michael Pennix or something like that. So at this point, really based on the way that things have gone though, I think the Steelers really need to consider all options going forward because that's a huge question mark on this football team. Mike DeFabo was joining us from The Athletic. Mike, I gotta tell you, if the option comes around summertime and it's Mason Rudolph and then you still gotta take a look at Kenny Pickett, it's like asking my toddler whether he wants peas or Brussels sprouts, man. Nobody wants that crap. Nobody wants that.

No, it's, it's true. I mean, I think that there are fans that really are hopeful that Matt Canada was so bad that that was the problem. And to tell you how bad it got here in Pittsburgh, they were chanting Fire Canada at Pittsburgh Penguins hockey games. This guy was like the most disliked man in Pittsburgh. And that offensive coordinator hire is going to be one of the most pivotal decisions that this franchise has made in a long time. Because if they're going to keep Mike Tomlin and believe in him, you know, they need somebody to come in here and, and add a spark to the offense. And I think that was an issue. Like there weren't very many opportunities where Kenny Pickett had easy throws or easy reads, or something to get them in a rhythm. You know, it was just kind of like a mess of three and outs when he was under center. So you hope that it's the offensive coordinator.

But but I agree with you that I also think that they need to consider bringing in some type of upgrade, whether that's via trade, whether that's via free agency, or whether that's in the draft. Well, you talk about Mike Tomlin, you know, showing himself and bringing in an offensive coordinator to do some work. We know Faulkner was running things in the interim used to be the running backs coach. And right before you joined us on air, we did play some comments by Najee Harris, where, you know, everybody kind of stuck up for Mike Tomlin. Najee, I guess he did. He said, Oh, we don't got no problem with the coach, no issues with the coach, but we need to work on some some in house rules.

What the hell could he possibly be referring to? Wouldn't any in house rules fall under the coaches jurisdiction? Yeah, I agree with you. That was interesting that he specifically said, Well, I don't mean coaching. But then he did say, you know, I don't think that we're structured enough. I don't think that guys are disciplined enough.

And I think that we need more in house rules, as you're saying. And I agree with you like that falls on the head coach, first and foremost, create a certain type of culture of accountability. And this wasn't the first time that Najee Harris made these similar comments. You know, after a very disheartening loss, about in the middle of the season against the Cleveland Browns, I mean, he was sitting there with his head in his hands. And, and he was saying, like, we can't keep doing this. And he said, You see some of the problems and some of the problems that we saw were Deontay Johnson not going for a fumble when the ball is on the ground, you know, or George Pickens not blocking for his teammates. But he said, you know, there's stuff going on behind the scenes you guys don't even see.

And I think what he's alluding to there was a report that came out that Pickens was fined more than $100,000 by the NFL and by the Steelers for violations. And, you know, it seems to me like they have some skill position players that aren't team oriented team first type of guys willing to play hard for each other and with each other. And I think that that needs to change on this team because not only were the results not there offensively, but there were definitely times where they looked and felt like a dysfunctional unit.

And I think that that's one big thing that really has to change going forward. And it was very different on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive side of the ball, I don't think there were those issues. But offensively, when they had so many problems, I think that's where you had dissension. And that's where you had infighting and blaming and finger pointing.

And I think those are the kinds of things that need to be cleaned up. Mike DeFable joining us here, the Gerald sport re show coming to us from the athletic. Yeah, I guess Steelers like a lot of teams are just running around with a few diva wide receivers. You know, what is the status of Pickens and Deontay? Every time they get a close up on them, they're complaining about something. They don't look happy.

They look miserable to be there. And it's not just the ref's fault. Yeah, it's really tough because, like, definitely there is a certain attitude and personality you have to have to be a wide receiver. I like to call it athletic arrogance where I think it's a good thing to feel like I'm the best, baddest player on the field.

No one can guard me. I should get the ball every single down. But when that spills over to selfishness, I think that that's a problem. And that's what you've seen on a couple of instances. Like, you know, specific examples are, you know, like the Steelers won a game earlier in the season and they scored the game when he touched down. And George Pickens like walked to the sideline, didn't celebrate with his teammates, wasn't happy for his guy Deontay for scoring the touchdown. You know, George Pickens later went on to scrub his social media account of all Steelers content, unfollowed Kenny Pickett, unfollowed Mike Tomlin and posted free me on his Instagram story. Now, he later went on to say that had nothing to do with football. But come on, man, like don't gaslight me.

I know what was going on there. And that's kind of been the theme here where where there's been it seems like numerous instances where where guys act out in a selfish manner. And I think that that needs to change because part of this is the Steelers for a number of years invested high top draft picks on defensive players and they paid them handsomely. Then the backfill all the holes they had offensively, they drafted a ton of new young guys on offense.

And all that youth, I think, is is also showing a lot of immaturity as well. And they don't have a good leader on that team. Like there were a couple instances this year, including against the Colts, where they didn't even send an offensive captain out for the coin toss. And I think that that was was kind of telling of where this team is that where they did not have a strong veteran leader on offense. And I think that was one of the things that was missing on this team. Do you think we got to wrap things up?

I appreciate you taking the time, Mike. Do you feel that that Mike Tomlin can also fill that void? Ben Roethlisberger expressed these comments, I think, about a month ago.

He said there is no leadership. And he also, it's felt like, took a jab at Tomlin because of that. How much can Mike Tomlin do as one person? Yeah, you know, Mike Tomlin has a very interesting leadership approach. You know, I talked to Broderick Jones yesterday in the locker room.

He's their first round pick who starts at right tackle. And he said he's never had a coach like Mike Tomlin. And he said he's not a disciplinarian. He's not going to yell and scream at you.

But what he's going to do is he's going to have very regular meetings with you and try to talk with you. And I think for some players, that works. You know, I think that they connect with that and they feel like this guy's on their side. But the criticism here in Pittsburgh is that he's so much of a player's coach.

He's too much of their buddy and he's afraid to call guys out and be the bad guy. And I think that there's a balance there. So, you know, I'm really curious to see, you know, not only do you need to bring an offensive coordinator to ignite this team, but maybe you need a strong voice of leadership that people can rally around and maybe hold people accountable.

And that's why, again, I feel like this offensive coordinator hiring is going to be a really pivotal decision that shapes next season for them. Hey, Mike, I appreciate you for taking the time to hop on. Just some excellent perspective that you've been able to share with us. We've been talking to Mike DeFeo from The Athletic. Where can people follow you and your work with the Steelers? Yeah, absolutely. You can follow me on Twitter. I keep it easy. It's just at Mike DeFeo. And then obviously you can read all my work in The Athletic.