This surely is not a unique trait, but one of the great commonalities that all of Mike Tomlin’s coaching hires have had—or at least his more successful and popular ones—has been that they displayed a genuine interest and investment in the wellbeing of their players as people.
In spite of his relatively short time here, Darryl Drake quickly became a beloved coach, and we learned more and more the extent to which the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization loved and appreciated him in the wake of his shocking and untimely passing during training camp last year.
His sudden death left the Steelers’ wide receivers at a loss, and it would be impossible to deny both on a personal and professional level that they felt his absence throughout the 2019 season, even with interim wide receivers coach Ray Sherman evidently filling in ably.