As Organized Team Activities are underway for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin is under fire from FS1 analyst, Emmanuel Acho. Acho boldly stated that he was undermining players like T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Patrick Queen with his current attitude and the team’s limbo state at quarterback. While it is expected that 41 year-old Aaron Rodgers will sign with the Steelers, it is hard to believe that it’s not a distraction this week.
Acho said, “We are all watching one of the most important positions in sports be absolutely negligently mishandled, and nobody is saying anything about it.”
It is incredibly hard to disagree with Acho, however, there may not be much that can be done if you are Tomlin. Aaron Rodgers walks to the beat of his own path, and if Steelers fans are being honest, he creates the highest ceiling for the team, as Mason Rudolph may result in another 9-win season, and ultimately quarterback purgatory.
What's more interesting is Acho saying, “I don’t know why, but Tomlin is absolutely undermining the work of all other 90 players that are currently on the roster until it gets down to 53.” What Acho is essentially saying is that the hard work that the rest of the team has been producing, will be for nothing because Tomlin could not secure a reliable quarterback this offseason.
As many know, Tomlin has not won a playoff game since the 2016 season, where Ben Roethlisberger was behind center. These are truly the first seasons where we are seeing Tomlin make big decisions in terms of the roster. While bringing in Russel Wilson and Justin Fields was viable for last year, it seems like a far cry that there will be two solid, reliable, and athletic quarterbacks on the roster this year.
Acho ended with saying, “None of the work that any of the players on the roster do will matter, as long as Mike Tomlin continues to completely mishandle this quarterback situation.”
OTAs continue for the rest of the week as Tomlin’s players get acclimated to Steelers practices and continue to work on their craft. The only problem is, will these players look to Tomlin if the quarterback position is the reason for losses this season?