Steely McBeam
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- Mar 20, 2019
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More than once this week Mike Tomlin was asked if he felt any responsibility for not making things work with Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
Steelers cornerback Joe Haden came to his coach’s defense Thursday, vouching for Tomlin’s leadership.
“He has complete control of the team,” Haden told Stacey Dales of NFL Network. “You have two totally different situations with Le’Veon and with Antonio. It is what is. It’s a business. You can’t blame coach T for that.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever played for. You can only ask for honesty. He keeps it real with you. He lets you know exactly where you stand. He lets you know exactly how he feels about you, if you’re productive, if you’re not. He treats everyone fairly, but I’m going to say not everybody gets treated the same.”
Haden spent seven seasons in Cleveland, playing for five head coaches.
When the Steelers reconvene for their offseason program, the locker room won’t be the same as when Haden arrived in 2017.
Bell left for more money from the Jets after sitting out last season in a contract dispute, refusing to sign the franchise tag. The Steelers traded Brown to Oakland after drama to end last season.
“With Antonio, that was just a whole different situation [than Bell],” Haden said. “This is a crazy business, and it’s definitely relationships and people feel certain types of ways. So that went down the way it did.
“I wanted AB to be on our team as much as possible. I did everything I possibly could, as far as talking to him and seeing what I could do. But it didn’t quite work out that way.”