Steelers Read & React: Mike Tomlin’s extension & bringing back CB Cam Sutton (2024)

It's been a busy week since our last column. Mike Tomlin has quieted whispers about a “hot seat,” a familiar face is starting over in Pittsburgh, and the wide receiver depth on the team continues to be a concern. Let's not waste any time and dive right in.

There will be no contract drama; Mike Tomlin has been extended through 2027. Your initial thoughts?

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RP: I mean, did we really expect anything different? I certainly expect Tomlin’s in a better mood. To be honest, something along these lines seemed pretty obvious. I think with long-tenured coaches such as Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick leaving their teams, some people might have thought that if the Steelers were ever going to consider shaking up their leadership, why not now while change seems to be in the air? However, to anyone who has followed this team for any substantial amount of time, that idea never seemed grounded in reality.

The Steelers are as steady as they come. For better or for worse, the Steelers are a team that does not make changes until they feel it is absolutely necessary. Some pockets of the fanbase might be frustrated with Tomlin, but the Rooneys have never indicated that they were at any point in his career. And while I think it’s true that the urgency to start winning playoff games again is growing, it’s clear the organization doesn’t believe Tomlin is the biggest reason for those struggles. I tend to agree with that sentiment.

Realistically, it’s going to be hard for the quarterback play to be worse than it was last year, even if Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both turn out to be duds. Say what you will about Arthur Smith’s time as a head coach, I’m confident his offense will be less constipated than the one Matt Canada subjected us to. I’m also encouraged by how Omar Khan has attacked free agency and the draft over the past two seasons. With their thin wide receiver depth, the Steelers might need another offseason to finish fully retooling this offense, but I’m pleased with the direction they’re heading. I think Tomlin is the right guy to steer the ship, come back to me in three years if they still haven’t won a playoff game.

RB: I’ve always been a Mike Tomlin supporter, but I started to lose fervency as the 2023 season continued. I wrote that the Steelers might be the worst-coached team in football at one point. The lack of recent playoff success (no postseason wins since 2017), paired with some inexcusable losses, has been getting harder and harder to defend.

But I always come back to the same question: if the Steelers did move on from Tomlin, could they sign someone better? There’s no guarantee, and I’m willing to bet the answer is no.

Tomlin is a good coach and a great leader. He’s well-respected across the league, which isn’t just an asset for the Steelers, but it also means he’d get signed elsewhere the moment he was let go by Pittsburgh. He does have his faults — notably not the best eye for coordinator talent — but with a good supporting staff, he’s an incredible head coach to have.

With the Steelers’ playoff win drought getting longer and a new offense being installed entering 2024, I would’ve probably preferred the Steelers waiting to see how this season goes before committing to an extension. But let’s face it — it was always going to happen. The Steelers get one of the best head coaches in the NFL with no contract drama entering the new season. There are things to nitpick but nothing to really complain about. But as Ryan wrote, if the Steelers’ playoff woes continue for another three years, Tomlin’s seat has better be getting hot.

Wide receiver depth is the most pressing need the Steelers have left. Does someone get added? If not, who on the roster steps up?

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RB: Apologies to my college anthropology professor, but denial of coevalness still has an important place in sports. Let’s face it: the Steelers are one George Pickens injury away from being sent back decades in their offensive approach.

The Steelers get this as much as we at BTSC do. As good as Roman Wilson will likely be, there’s a reason why Pittsburgh has been connected to a number of WR1-2s who could be available via trade. A lot of it’s smoke — but look at the Steelers’ current receiver depth chart. There’s some fire there as well.

However, it seems like the chances of the Steelers landing a big-name receiver like Brandon Aiyuk or Courtland Sutton are getting smaller by the minute. Pittsburgh might’ve missed their chance. Or maybe the asking prices are too high. Receivers are expensive these days, and having to trade an early pick on top of that might not be worth it.

That being said, while I highly doubt that the Steelers will make a blockbuster trade this late in the offseason, I do see them adding another name at receiver in the coming months, likely a WR3 type who they hope can fit in between Van Jefferson and Pickens talent-wise. Maybe they’ll trade for John Metchie III or sign Michael Thomas. It won’t instill much confidence, but Omar Khan’s approach this year seems to be throwing a bunch of names in the wide receiver room and hoping a few develop into legitimate weapons. And I don’t think he’s done adding quite yet.

As for who steps up, I expect George Pickens to have a career year. That doesn’t mean he’ll finally have a perfectly rounded skillset, but he should get a career-high in targets and reap the benefits. Roman Wilson is the type of rookie who’ll be able to contribute right away, even though I doubt he breaks 600 yards. But the real breakout candidate is tight end Pat Freiermuth, who will likely take some pressure off the Steelers’ thin receiving core and be second in targets in Arthur Smith’s Steelers offense.

As for everyone else, speedsters Calvin Austin III, Quez Watkins, and Scotty Miller are all likely good for a few explosive plays a season, but it’s hard to see them as viable possession receivers at this point in their careers. They fit a similar skillset, and I doubt all three make the final roster. Van Jefferson is likely a lock, but his last good season was in 2021 and he’s steadily regressed since. None of the names mentioned are bad depth, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll be major players in 2024.

There’s plenty of wide receiver analysis on this website, so I’ll leave it at that before getting too long-winded. To wrap up, here’s my knee-jerk projected Week 1 wide receiver depth chart on the Steelers’ final 53, and I’d be interested to see others’ in the comment section:

1. George Pickens
2. Player to be added (will be leapfrogged by Wilson early in the season)
3. Roman Wilson
4. Van Jefferson
5. Quez Watkins
6. Scotty Miller

RP: I think this is once again a case of multiple things being true. At this point, we have to prepare for the possibility that these are the cards the Steelers have been dealt for this season. Khan is prepared to go into the season with this roster if there isn’t a deal that makes sense for the team.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t looking. It takes two to tango, and it always felt like some of these receiver contract dominoes needed to fall first. Anything is possible, but like Ryland, I’m not confident that a big-name receiver is attainable at this point. NFL teams don’t lean into the tank in the same way baseball and basketball teams do, and when I look around the league there are no obvious candidates.

If I had to throw a suggestion out, I’d say call up Green Bay. They have a surplus of young wide receivers and maybe a midround pick gets you one. I have a hard time seeing Green Bay parting with Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs or Christian Watson, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Bo Melton, Dontayvion Wicks, Malik Heath and Samori Toure could all be interesting roleplayers if Omar Khan truly is trying to replace Diontae Johnson in the aggregate. Though Pittsburgh might be better off claiming them during roster trim-downs at the end of the preseason.

As for who on the roster steps up, there is a different answer for who I’d like and who I’d expect. I’d like to see Calvin Austin finally used in a creative way to take advantage of his speed. With his size, there will always be certain limitations in his game, but his speed remains intriguing, even if he’s thus far been like the sports car that never gets taken out of the garage. What I think will happen — if no further additions are made — is Quez Watkins will settle in as the fourth receiver that runs a lot of vertical routes and then Marquez Callaway and Denzel Mims fight for the fifth and potential sixth spot. I don’t expect any of them to be major contributors, but they might make a few plays throughout the season.

Bickley is right, the depth is thin. It’s why we’re hoping for more moves. But the Steelers might not have many options beyond putting a lot of heavy lifting on the shoulders of Pickens and the rookie Wilson, with some help from Pat Freiermuth as well.

What’s your reaction to the Cam Sutton signing?

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RP: First, let’s address the elephant in the room. Any conversation about Sutton is an uncomfortable one. Full transparency, we debated doing this topic at all. Ultimately, we decided that if we were going to claim to react to the trending topics in Steelers Nation, it would feel fraudulent to dodge this one after seeing how the community on this website reacted to the signing.

I’m not going to tell anyone how they should feel, but I will reflect that I think we sometimes forget in our current social/online climate that multiple things can be true at once.

It’s true, this was always the likeliest signing Pittsburgh was going to make, I said as much back in May. The familiarity, the scheme fit, the clear team need, and the baked-in discount, the writing seemed on the wall. From a purely football perspective, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think he could provide the exact kind of steady nickel play they so desperately needed. In that way, the team definitely got better.

But it’s also true that signing someone accused of the things Sutton’s been accused of is going to elicit strong reactions, especially from people who have experienced domestic violence or who have loved ones who’ve been impacted by it.

As for the legal process of it all, Sutton has entered a pretrial diversion program. He’s required to get a mental health evaluation, cannot have weapons or guns in his possession, and cannot contact the victim during a probationary period. His lawyers released a statement saying that both he and the mother of his three children have requested privacy as they see this as a family issue. If Sutton successfully completes the requirements during his probationary period, his case will be dismissed. The NFL likely will weigh in at some point before the season on whether they will suspend Sutton for any length of time.

If I’m being honest with you, the signing does make me a little queasy. But I also acknowledge that I felt similarly when Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison had troubling accusations brought up against them, and yet I still root for the Steelers. If you’re reading this, chances are you do too. That doesn’t dismiss or condone Sutton's actions, but it does illustrate the complicated balance we strike as fans when real-world issues inevitably bleed into a workspace that has so much of our national attention.

So ultimately, two things can be true. I think it would be a disservice to domestic violence victims if we didn’t talk about these cases with the attention and seriousness they deserve. As much as we like to use sports as a form of escapism, the reality is that this is part of Sutton’s story now. But I also hope Sutton takes this second opportunity he’s been given and grows as a person, for his sake and the sake of his partner and children. Now that Sutton is getting his second chance, it’s up to him to earn it, and that can’t only be on the field.

RB: What Ryan said. Based on what we know right now regarding Sutton’s domestic violence allegations, I don’t like the signing one bit. Pittsburgh clearly knows more about the situation than any of us do, but let’s face the ugly truth: NFL teams, even the ones we care about, worry far more about results on the field than any type of moral compass. That doesn’t justify anything, but as Ryan points out, it’s hardly a new trend as we can never fully separate the escapism of football from the grim realities of the real world.

And yes, false accusations and botched police reports happen. Second chances matter. But these opinions only seem to surface when they have to do with favorite sports teams. Domestic violence isn’t the sort of issue that can or should be quickly moved on from, despite the Steelers’ warm welcome to Sutton. In the league’s opinion, at least it isn’t sports betting. Ugh.

From a football perspective, the Sutton signing is a good move. The Steelers’ 2024 secondary finally seems season-ready. But based on what we know right now, it’s a black mark on Khan’s tenure as Steelers GM and the type of roster move that has me second-guessing why I love the uncaring business that is professional athletics so much.

There’s still much we don’t know about the situation, and I’m sure the Steelers did their research. But I’ll stop before it sounds like an excuse. What we do know is that Sutton will likely face a suspension from the league to start the season, and if anything new comes out regarding his legal situation, there’s a chance the Steelers let him go. For now, the signing shores up Pittsburgh’s starting secondary, but building strong depth should still be a priority this offseason.

Join in on Steelers R&R by sharing your takes on this week’s topics in the comments. Feel free to pitch future questions in the comment section or on Twitter/X: tag @_Ryland_B or @RyanParishMedia. If we get enough submissions, we’ll consider doing a mailbag in the future!