Over the years, Mike Tomlin, the head coach of the Steelers, has had a number of assistant coaches who have held head coaching positions, including Dick LeBeau, Todd Haley, Mike Munchak, and Brian Flores.
Arthur Smith, the former head coach of the Falcons, is another that he brought in this offseason. According to Tomlin, having former head coaches on the staff offers benefits beyond Xs and Os.
“I have an advantage over others. This week at the annual NFL meetings in Orlando, Tomlin stated, “I love being able to bounce ideas off of people, and not necessarily things that are directly related to the team, game plan, or strategy, the things that you would initially think, but more subtle things.” “Calendar, best practices, events that take place over a 12-month period with the aim of locating and identifying a competitive advantage. I’ve found it to be really helpful in the past, so I’m looking forward to doing that with Arthur this time around. I’ve also been having open conversations with him about it.
“My time with Munch (Mike Munchak), my time with Todd Haley, for example, was really beneficial and in some of those more subtle things that might not be interesting to you all, but necessary things from a head coach perspective.”
The arrival of Smith is extremely valuable to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Smith’s acquisition gives Tomlin access to someone who has a broader understanding of quarterback contests.
For his first fifteen seasons as the Steelers’ head coach, Tomlin was spared from dealing with such a situation. Ben Roethlisberger was under his command, which he never took for granted.
After the 2021 season, Roethlisberger announced his retirement, so Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, and Mason Rudolph competed for the Steelers’ starting job. However, in order to prepare for the season’s opening, Trubisky played most of the starting snaps as both he and Pickett were new to the squad.
But Smith has been involved in several quarterback competitions in his career. He’s also quickly transitioned new quarterbacks into his offensive scheme.
In 2019 when he was in his first season as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator, the Titans had Marcus Mariota as their starter, but acquired Ryan Tannehill from the Dolphins for a fight-round pick.
By all accounts, Tannehill outplayed Mariota in camp and the preseason that year, but the Titans stuck with their former No. 2-overall pick – until they didn’t.
After six games and a 2-4 start, Smith and head coach Mike Vrabel turned to Tannehill, who rallied the Titans to a 9-7 finish.
Tannehill was the Titans’ unquestioned starter in 2020, and Smith had a similar situation the following season when he took the head coaching job in Atlanta with Matt Ryan in place.
But Smith and the Falcons made the decision to move on from Ryan in 2022. Atlanta began that season with Mariota – acquired during the offseason – before turning things over to rookie Desmond Ridder for the final five games of the season.
Neither were the answer, but the Falcons ran the ball more than any other team in the league, finishing 7-10 while getting 17 touchdown passes and nine interceptions from their quarterbacks.
Last season in Atlanta, Ridder was Smith’s starter going into the season, but he also wound up choosing to go with Taylor Heinicke in four games.