ORLANDO, Fla. -- A little of the old and a splash of new. That would be one way to describe the new coaching staff Mike Tomlin has put together with the Steelers for 2018.
The little bit of the old could be used to describe new offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, who has been with the team since 2007, serving first as wide receivers coach and then working with the team's quarterbacks before replacing Todd Haley in January.
That also could be used to describe new receivers coach Darryl Drake. While he might be new to the Steelers, he's hardly new to football. Drake, 61, has been in the NFL the past 14 seasons, working in college before that. He's been around long enough to have coached Hines Ward in college.
And on the defensive side of things, the new could be used to describe defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, who has bounced back and forth between the NFL and college, most recently at Alabama, and defensive backs coach Tom Bradley, whose entire career has been spent in the college ranks.
The turnover of four coaches on Tomlin's staff represents a change of more than 25 percent. And Tomlin hopes the adjustment in voices the players are hearing on a daily basis can help a team that has been one of the most talented in the league the past few years get over the hump and win a Super Bowl.
There might be nothing more prominent in that regard than the replacement of Haley with Fichtner. The Steelers have had a top-10 offense each of the past four seasons, but there were also some inconsistencies — in the red zone, for example.
"We just have to keep moving. We were having some success when we made the change to Todd Haley. That is just the nature of our business," Tomlin said Monday at the NFL meetings. "We had a great deal of success. I appreciate the contributions that he provided us. I just thought it was an appropriate time and, equally as important, I thought I had the appropriate guy to assume the role. So, I am excited about moving forward with Randy. I am excited about his experience. Not only his experience, but the experience within our program. The fact that he has been the wide receivers coach. The fact that he has been the quarterbacks coach and how those experiences will help lead the group, not only from a playcaller standpoint, but organizationally as he works with the staff and the players. I think it is going to be an asset to us."
The Steelers' offense under Fichtner likely won't look a great deal different than it did in terms of personnel. The changes might not necessarily be something that can be seen by the average fan — unless they look at the scoreboard.
Defensively, however, is where Tomlin said he's not opposed to seeing some changes.
"I am not opposed to it. That is the mentality I go into each year with in terms of our evolution, or how we evolve from an Xs and Os standpoint or a utilization-of-players standpoint," Tomlin admitted. "We are just beginning that journey in terms of analyzing what we have done, putting together this current crop of guys and charting out a path in terms of what we are going to be in ‘18. I am not opposed to dramatic changes. I think that is the appropriate mentality to have. ... I think it’s great to have an attitude that’s not resistant to it."
What might that mean?
As we laid out here a few weeks ago, it could be something simple, such as flipping sides for Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt on the defense. It could mean the switch to a base 4-3 defense, however unlikely that is. More importantly, it will be a shift to a more fundamentals-based teaching scheme, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, where Dunbar and Bradley both have recent experience working with young players.
With elements of the college game such as the read-option offense leaking into the pro game, having defensive coaches on the staff who have had to deal with those issues on a daily basis can be invaluable.
"Certainly," Tomlin replied when I asked him about that. "That is not a formal element of the discussion, but there are unintended benefits from hiring a guy (with college) expertise. No question. Some of the things that are prevalent, some of the issues that are prevalent in college football, whether it’s schematics, (run-pass option) and the spread ball, there are other unintended benefits."
There also are variables in play of how to deal with young players and how they learn. Colleges are often at the cutting edge of that because they are limited in the amount of time they can spend with players each week. They have to come up with good ways to get players to learn in a short amount of time.
Tomlin said he was particularly intrigued with Bradley in that regard.
"He has dealt firsthand with the evolution of technology in terms of it being a teaching tool with the young people," Tomlin said. "He has a better understanding of the learning environments they come from and how they structure those learning environments. That is something that is ever-changing. A lot of unintended benefits of his background in terms of things he can bring to us in terms of us having a better understanding of where young players come to us from, whether it’s schematics, the use of technology and teaching, just the evolution of the game at the college level, he has been directly involved in for a number of years."
That will be especially important for the Steelers on defense. Even with the addition of veteran safety Morgan Burnett, the Steelers are young on defense, particularly in the secondary now that Mike Mitchell has been released. And Burnett and new linebacker Jon Bostic also will be learning the defense, along with what figures to be a draft class heavy on the defensive side.
Bringing in teachers was a must. Tomlin pointed specifically to Bradley in that regard.
"I wanted a teacher, or a guy with a teacher’s mentality, in that position," Tomlin said. "We have a lot of young people in the secondary and the development of those people is critical for us. The fact that he doesn’t have NFL experience is not a negative for me; it’s quite the opposite. I am excited because he is an accomplished coach with a legitimate resume who does have experience in terms of development of players and I think all of those things are real positives as we embark on this journey, which would be his first one in the National Football League."
• So how serious are the Steelers about looking for Ben Roethlisberger's possible replacement? I think reasonably so.
This is a deep quarterback class and those don't come around every year. And first-round talents don't usually slip into the latter portions of the draft, as one or two might this year because of that depth.
So the Steelers are doing their due diligence with the guys that will be available to them. Does that mean they'll draft one? Not necessarily.
But let's say, for example, the top four inside linebacker prospects — the team's most pressing need — are gone. And so are the top couple of safety prospects. The Steelers aren't going to take an inside linebacker or safety with a second-round grade in the first round just to take one.
And if some of those positions are hit hard, that could mean a quarterback drops into their lap. They have to be prepared for that scenario.
• I know, Roethlisberger has told teammates he wants to play three more years. But he's 36. And he could go through an injury-riddled season in 2018 and decide that's it. Or, it could happen in 2019.
Quarterback is the one position at which you can take a guy with an eye toward him playing in future seasons. And if you're going to take a quarterback, you should take him in the first round because of the fifth-year option.
Picks made after the first round are only under club control for four seasons. But first-round picks offer that option year that protects a team's rights.
• For the same reasons, I'm not buying the Steelers being interested in a running back in the first round. Le'Veon Bell will be on the team's roster in 2018, whether it be on a one-year deal or on the long-term contract to which the team still hopes it can sign him despite Kevin Colbert putting those talks on hold for right now.
With Bell on the roster for 2018, a first-round running back would be a wasted pick. You're not going to take Bell, who is going to be the highest-paid running back in the league this season no matter what happens, off the field to get a rookie touches. You're just not.
The Steelers might select a running back in the later rounds of the upcoming draft, but it will be someone to compete for playing time with James Conner and push Fitzgerald Toussaint off the roster.
• So yes, I think the Steelers meeting with LSU's Derrius Guice is nothing but a smokescreen.
• Tomlin sits on the important NFL Competition Committee, which was in charge of coming up with new rules regarding what is and isn't a catch in the NFL. Tomlin said the Jesse James play from last year's game against the Patriots was obviously a big part of that, as were a number of other controversial plays going back some 20 years.
"The catch/no-catch is something that needed to be cleaned up. We feel really confident about what we’ve been able to do in that area," Tomlin said. "More than anything I think is language. Everyone knows what a catch is, or that’s debatable, but everyone feels comfortable about their knowledge of what a catch is. The key is to find appropriate language to not only cover obscure, but the unforeseen obscure. So, I feel comfortable with what we’ve been able to get done. I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that catch/no-catch has been officiated really well on-field and in real time. Where we’ve gotten into issues is replay in that area, so we focused our language in an effort to assist that replay process."
We'll see if these changes make a difference. The bottom line is that while this play was officiated correctly as a non-catch per the rules in place last season, it will now be considered a catch under the improved rules:
And that's a good thing.
• Tomlin is always good for a one-liner here or there, and when he was asked about the possibility of Bell not showing up until the start of the season, he didn't pull any punches.
"I’m sure Le’Veon said a lot of things," Tomlin said. "I’m sure that he’s said he’s going to rap full-time."
Bell does have a Terry Bradshaw-like propensity to say different things to different people depending on his mood, or time of the day.
Tomlin said he speaks to Bell on a regular basis and has continued to do so this offseason.
"I base our relationship on what goes on with us in terms of what we say when we’re sitting face-to-face," Tomlin said. "I think that is the appropriate way to go about it."
Remember that the next time Bell says something you think is outlandish. That's just his personality. And, as I said, it's very similar to that of Bradshaw — without some of the bitterness of Bradshaw added in.