In his seventh NFL season and with his fourth organization, Pittsburgh Steelers safety DeShon Elliott has been around the block a time or two. He’s played for a number of different head coaches and has gone through a handful of position coaches and defensive coordinators.
He’s never really gotten close to coaches, especially head coaches, or really communicated much with them, outside of actual football.
But that’s all changed in the Steel City.
Appearing on The Christian Kuntz Podcast Thursday, Elliott talked about his relationship with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, stating he’s the only head coach he’s ever felt like he could trust. That includes John Harbaugh in Baltimore.
“I mean, from when I was there, he was cool. He was a good coach. I thought like he’s been a lot more of lackadaisical now than he was when I was there. Like now, he has a little bit more fun than when I was there. But I mean, I’ve never really gotten close to coaches,” said Elliott, who has also played for Dan Campbell in Detroit and Mike McDaniel in Miami, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “I usually don’t trust coaches. So Mike [Tomlin], he’s the first coach I’ve ever trusted and feel like I can talk to and feel normal, ’cause before that, I tell you, I would barely even talk to the coaches.”
Even dating back to the University of Texas, Elliott kept his distance from coaches, knowing that he was a player and they were coaches and that ultimately it was a player’s game. But that’s all changed in Pittsburgh.
Now that he’s playing under Tomlin and is going to be here for long term after signing an extension this summer to keep him in the Steel City moving forward, Elliott has been able to really buy in and trust Tomlin, both as a coach and on a personal level.
It all comes back to how Tomlin conducts himself, telling it like it is in meetings, holding players accountable, and demanding excellence. It’s not like that everywhere.
“If Mike T’s telling you something, you’re not just saying it just to both smoke up your ass. A lot of coaches try to say things it just make you feel good or to like, there’s two sides to a coin. But him, it’s like, nah, he’ll tell you in the meeting right there in front of everybody what it is and what is not,” Elliott said. “My [previous] coaches sometimes they forget that this is a player’s league, this isn’t a coaches league. You genuinely really don’t matter. You are there for Xs and Os. You ain’t playing on Sunday.
“So some coaches make it too much about them. If you’re making it about you, you’re probably not gonna win that many games.”
That might seem harsh, but it’s largely the truth. Yes, the Xs and Os matter, and coaches have a big say in that. But it is ultimately a players-driven league. They’re the ones on the field, putting their bodies on the line in an effort to win games.
Tomlin seems to know that, and while he unfairly gets hit with the “player’s coach” label time and again, his ability to connect with players on a personal level, even guys who spend less than a week in the facility, is pretty darn impressive.
It’s helped him have success year after year, sustaining it through a number of leadership changes within the locker room. Players rave about him as a leader and as a person. That has to matter to the fan base at some point.
It clearly matters to Elliott, who has opened himself up to Tomlin after years of being closed off to other coaches. Now, the Steelers are getting the best out of Elliott. Coincidence? I think not.
Check out the full episode of The Christian Kuntz Podcast below.
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