In case you haven’t heard before, Pittsburgh Steelers HC Mike Tomlin is known as a players’ coach. By that, we mean that he tends to have very strong relationships with his players, who are inspired to play for him. On the eve of Tomlin’s Hard Knocks debut, Mike DeFabo and The Athletic compiled some of those players’ stories. The one that sticks out the most, clearly, is the story of Willie Colon.
Mike Tomlin didn’t even draft Colon, that honor belonging to Bill Cowher a year earlier. But he emerged as a full-time starter with the Steelers under Tomlin.