Mike Tomlin Talks Hire of Flores, Antonio Brown, in Podcast Appearance

Hiring Brian Flores

The guys on the podcast take a special interest in Tomlin’s hiring of the former Dolphins coach, but the situation may not have materialized how you thought it did.

Originally, Tomlin admitted that he really didn’t know Flores until the Dolphins hired him, and even then it was mostly a professional relationship. 

“Every now and then we would talk on league-related matters, but really no personal relationship,” Tomlin said on the podcast. Tomlin said that he reached out to support him when Flores filed the lawsuit against the NFL. 

The next time they spoke things started to move in the direction of coaching. “He reached out to me again, and this time he was talking about coach-related things. I think the Giants opportunity had fell through for him, there may have been one job, or maybe a job or two open left, but he just had a good feeling that he wasn’t in play for them. So he started asking me for advice now…”

This is when Tomlin pounced on the situation and got Flores a job. Originally, that was not what their relationship was about. Tomlin even said that he didn’t want to offer him something small while other head jobs were available, he saw it as an insult to Flores’ ability as a coach. 

Tomlin told Flores to give him a day or so to sort things out in Pittsburgh. “So I go down the hall and I walk into Art Rooney’s office…this dude wants to coach football and I want to hire him. And he was like ‘Great’... that's the extent of the conversation.” 

“I told Flo give me 24 hours and I think I called him back like 45 minutes later.”

Tomlin gives such a unique window into how the Steelers operate here, and how the process went down. Tomlin saw a chance to add a guy who is capable of being a head coach to his staff and took it. 

One of the other takeaways is how much pull Tomlin truly has in that building. Channing Crowder couldn’t believe that it was that simple, that Tomlin could walk down to the owner’s office and decisions could be made on a yes or no basis, but that is simply how the Steelers operate. 

If the Flores and Steelers relationship goes well, that story from Coach Tomlin could quickly become an all-timer in Pittsburgh. 

Antonio Brown

The quote from Mike Tomlin on a potential Antonio Brown return is already being popularized, but in reality, Tomlin saying “Y’all know that ain’t happening.” was such a small part of their conversation on the former Steelers receiver. 

Immediately after that, he reflected fondly on the time they spent together in Pittsburgh. “We had 9 great years, I appreciate that dude in ways I can’t explain to y’all.” 

The group then spoke on the will of the former Steeler, and how fearless he was when he was at his best. 

It can’t be argued that during his prime years in Pittsburgh Antonio Brown was one of the best receivers that ever played the game, and even though a reunion isn’t on the horizon, and it didn’t end the way that people wanted it to, Tomlin won’t be one to publicly trash his former player. 

Fred Taylor Wanted to be a Steeler

In his prime, Fred Taylor was a great running back. Best known for his time in Jacksonville, he put up seven 1,000-yard seasons for the jags.

Towards the end of his career, Taylor played two injury-filled seasons with the Patriots, but he revealed in the podcast with Mike Tomlin that after his release from the Jaguars, the Steelers were one of the two teams he wanted to play for. 

“There were only two teams I wanted to hear from. One was the Patriots, the other was the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why ain’t you hit me up boss?” Taylor finally got to ask Tomlin after a long 14-year wait.

The Steelers aren’t really known for being a spot for former stars to end their careers, but it seems that Taylor was keen on joining up with Ryan Clark and Coach Tomlin to finish up his career. 

Super Bowl XLIII

Another cool story that Tomlin shared was how he managed to hype up a beaten-down defense during the Super Bowl against the Cardinals. 

A team that relied on the defense all year, that Steelers group was a special one, but when Larry Fitzgerald went off in the second half against them, even taking the lead, that group was shaken. 

Even after the Ben to Santonio connection happened and the Steelers once again regained the lead Tomlin could tell by the looks on their faces that many of his players were still reeling from Fitzgerald’s performance. 

So Tomlin went to the youngest player of the group, LaMar Woodley to make a play. While the long-term members of the team were shaken by the performance, Woodley wasn’t. “He was probably too young and inexperienced to be really messed up,” Tomlin said of Woodley at the time. “He was too young to understand the gravity of where we were.”

It was eventually Woodley who sealed the game for the Steelers with a strip-sack of Kurt Warner. 

It’s a nice story, and really highlights the feel for the game that Tomlin has. He knows his players incredibly well, and so he went to LaMar Woodley out of everyone on that defense, and Woodley delivered. 

Tomlin’s side project

With the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers have a bit of a void in leadership, especially on the offensive side of the ball, so Tomlin is working to void the gap. 

Undoubtedly one of the team’s best leaders is Cam Heyward. So, Tomlin is working with Cam to work on the leadership skills of Najee Harris. 

Many fans know that the Steelers will depend a lot on Najee Harris on the field, but the same is true off of it. 

Tomlin gave an example from this past December. He was sitting with Najee and he asked him if he had any Christmas decorations up at his place in Pittsburgh. When Najee admitted he didn’t he told Cam to help him out. 

So, naturally, Cam had a tree, ornaments, and decorations delivered to Najee’s place that night to get Najee into the holiday spirit. 

Conclusion

The whole podcast is full of great stories like these, so go ahead and give it a listen. You’ll definitely come away pleased that this man is the leader of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and you’ll understand why players desperately want to play for him. 

Tomlin also talks a lot about what motivates him, and how he finds his drive. He speaks on the challenge of coaching with a team without Ben for the first time, some of his earliest memories of coaching, and why he became a coach in the first place.

This episode is definitely worth the listen for all Steelers fans and football fans in general.