First Call: Mike Tomlin rated NFL's 2nd best coach; teams show interest in former Steelers DB

Friday’s “First Call” rebukes Pro Football Talk’s NFL head coach rankings, which place Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin second.

We also find out who may sign former Steeler Arthur Maulet and what Steelers’ connection exists in the new ownership of the Washington Commanders.

Plus, a new professional sports team in Pittsburgh gets to debut in its hometown Sunday.

Did you know he’s never had a losing season?

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is doing a list of Top 10 NFL coaches, and this week he revealed that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is No. 2 overall. Florio called him “underrated” during his analysis.

Frankly, I think anyone who rates Tomlin that high is overrating him — especially when you consider that Florio has him in front of New England’s Bill Belichick and only behind Kansas City’s Andy Reid.

Keep in mind that Belichick has gotten the better of Tomlin nine of 12 times. That’s to say nothing of their career resumes. For Belichick, that means 30 playoff wins, six Super Bowl victories, nine AFC crowns and 17 divisional titles.

Tomlin has one Super Bowl ring, two AFC championships, eight total playoff victories and seven AFC North titles.

None of those playoff victories have come in the past six seasons. Five of those eight playoff wins happened before 2011. Four of his last five seasons have ended with nine wins or less. And he has failed to win a playoff game in 12 of his 16 seasons as head coach — losing a home playoff game four times in that span and a fifth as a team with a better record on the road (in Denver during the 2011 playoffs)

And before you play the “Well, Belichick had Tom Brady card,” remember, most of those years Tomlin had Ben Roethlisberger as his quarterback.

That qualifies Tomlin as being the second best coach in the NFL? Really?

It’s amazing to me how staying just barely above mediocrity endears Tomlin so much to members of the national media. The “he’s never had a losing season” thing is such lazy analysis to me.

It’s almost as if the national media intentionally prefers to avoid looking deeper into that statistic because they know further study of it would debunk the narrative they’ve built of Tomlin outside of Pittsburgh.

A narrative that — apparently — now extends to the degree that he is a better coach than Belichick.

Wow.

Tomlin is a good coach. He hasn’t been a great one for a decade. Certainly not the second-best one in the NFL.

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Steelers tie

The big NFL news Thursday was the completion of the Washington Commanders sale from Daniel Snyder to a group led by Josh Harris, which also includes NBA legend Magic Johnson.

The transaction cost a tidy $6.05 billion.

Harris has been a minority owner of the Steelers. He will now have to sell off his shares of the Pittsburgh franchise. Jimmy Haslam (Cleveland Browns) and David Tepper (Carolina Panthers) also used to be minority owners with the Steelers before moving on to become primary owners of other NFL clubs.

As SteelersNow.com points out, Harris has owned a stake in the Steelers of less than 5% ($140 million), since 2020 with partner David Blitzer. The website goes on to state (via Statista) that the Steelers were valued at $3 billion in 2020 and are currently worth $3.975 billion.

Next move for Maulet?

Steelers defensive back Arthur Maulet is still looking for a new home. Maulet was cut by the Steelers in May.

But according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, at least two teams—the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears—have an interest.

Jaguars and Bears are among teams that have inquired on free agent corner Arthur Maulet, who requested and was granted his release from Pittsburgh in May. Maulet -- who had 59 tackles, two sacks and an INT last year --- is weighing options and plan to be with a team for camp.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 20, 2023

As the NFL Draft was ongoing, the Steelers signed Chandon Sullivan away from the Minnesota Vikings. He is now likely to get reps at slot cornerback.

Over his two years in Pittsburgh, Maulet totaled 106 tackles, one interception, four pass deflections and two forced fumbles.

Big debut

The Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) league is coming to Pittsburgh for the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals this weekend. We profiled the league here at Breakfast With Benz last month.

The Pittsburgh Steeltoes men’s and women’s Rugby Clubs will host the event at Highmark Stadium at 3 p.m. Sunday. It’s a festival-style tournament that features men’s and women’s teams for the Steeltoes, as well as competitors from Texas, Memphis and New York.

Heading into the Conference Finals, the expansion Steeltoes men’s and women’s teams sit in third place in their conference. At the end of the Eastern Conference Finals, the top two teams in the men’s and women’s divisions qualify for the 2023 PR7s Championship in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 6. Winning both games in Pittsburgh for either the men’s or women’s Steeltoes will guarantee their place in the championship.

The PR7s tournaments will include a series of eight 14-minute games, rotating between the men’s and women’s competitions on the same day.

Each event will crown a men’s and women’s winner. The season-long competition will build toward the 2023 Championship Tournament, where one franchise will take home the 2023 PR7s United Championship.