Let’s take a quick look at the latest happenings from the AFC North, starting in Pittsburgh:
- The Steelers gave Mike Tomlin a one-year extension (through 2021) instead of their usual two-year re-ups, and this one does not have an option for a future year. But the 13th-year Steelers sideline boss does not look to be on shaky ground, despite the franchise missing the playoffs last season and parting ways with two of the most talented players in team history this year. Tomlin, 47, also has no plans to walk away any time soon. “He certainly hasn’t put any sticker date on himself, and neither have we,” Steelers owner Art Rooney said, via Albert Breer of SI.com. “He’s still a relatively young guy in the coaching profession and has certainly as much energy and enthusiasm as he’s ever had. So I don’t think there’s any particular window that he’s going to coach through. He hasn’t given me any indication that he’s got any date in mind.”
- The Ravens boast one of the NFL’s premier secondaries and auditioned another Pro Bowler who could potentially fill a role there. Safety Brynden Trawick worked out for his former team recently, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Trawick is known more for his special teams acumen, having made the 2017 Pro Bowl as a Titans special-teamer. But Trawick began his career in Baltimore, the former UDFA playing three seasons with the Ravens from 2013-15.
- Duke Johnson‘s agent was in Berea, Ohio, this week to discuss his client’s complicated situation with the Browns. Drew Rosenhaus met with John Dorsey and assistant GM Eliot Wolf, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes. Dorsey maintains the Browns are not going to trade Johnson, who has requested to be dealt out of Cleveland. For now, the passing-down back remains sidelined with a hamstring injury — one that could keep him out “a little while,” Cabot adds.
- It looks like the best-case scenario for A.J. Green is a late-September return. Zac Taylor acknowledged the Bengals will likely be without their Pro Bowl wideout to start the season.
Hopefully the Steelers will move on from Tomlin. They have had so much talent in the past and he has never capitalized on it. Time to move on
I always looked at the Steelers as having a great coaching team that got the most out of the talent they scouted, and saw Tomlin as a big part of that. I thought Cincinnati often had better talent but were mostly out coached and then out played by the Steelers players who always had an edge over them, again attributed to Tomlin and the culture of the Steelers franchise. But a Steelers fan might say the same when looking at Belichick and the Patriots. So I definitely see where Steeler faithful want to move forward from Tomlin.
I agree
Everyone always talks about Tomlins regular season record which is very good. It would be even better if he didn’t have a terrible habit of losing to inferior teams. And a good regular season record doesn’t mean squat if you keep getting your butt kicked in the playoffs. One can only imagine what a guy like Belichick would have done with the talent that Tomlin has wasted.
I really hope Duke doesn’t start the season tanking his play because he didn’t get his way.