Mueller: Flores hire a home run for Tomlin, Steelers

I have become accustomed to taking to these pages after the Steelers make a coaching staff hire and panning the decision.

“Hire” might not be the right word, however. It implies that a person who previously held no position with the organization was brought in to do something.

Of late, the Steelers have done more promoting than they have hiring. Adrian Klemm? Promoted. I said that was going to be a disaster, and it was. The man left a team when they were staggering improbably towards a playoff berth, and it was the right move for all involved.

Matt Canada getting promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator? We all saw how year one of that experiment unfolded. I harbor very little optimism for year two.

Mike Tomlin’s inability or unwillingness to add a big name to his coaching staff was starting to become a problem, and not the kind that got whispered about quietly.

Tomlin put that to rest in emphatic fashion Saturday, hiring Brian Flores as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach. Let’s get this out of the way: Flores isn’t a good hire by Tomlin. He’s a great hire. An exceptional hire.

My radio colleague Andrew Fillipponi tweeted that Flores “might be the most overqualified linebackers coach in NFL history. He’s a top-15 head coach.” I’m inclined to agree on both counts.

In the team’s official press release announcing the move, Tomlin’s comment on Flores said it all.

“I am excited about Brian Flores joining our coaching staff given his history of developing and teaching defensive players during his time in the NFL. Brian’s resume speaks for itself, and I look forward to him adding his expertise to help our team.”

Flores comes from Bill Belichick’s coaching tree, and – this can’t be stressed enough – should still be a head coach in the NFL. He went 24-25 with Miami over three seasons, including 10-6 and 9-8 campaigns the last two seasons. The 2021 Dolphins started 1-7, then promptly ripped off wins in eight of their last nine games and nearly grabbed a playoff bid.

That Tomlin – and Art Rooney II – were willing to bring him aboard even while his class-action lawsuit against the NFL continues is even better. That lawsuit will get messy and likely take a long time to resolve, but from my vantage point, it’s pretty clear that Flores has a case.

On Rooney’s part, green-lighting the hire almost calls to mind the kind of ownership mindset made famous by a long-time Steelers nemesis; late Raiders owner Al Davis. Davis was many things – brash and arrogant, but also forward-thinking, a champion of civil rights causes in the league, and a man happy to be antagonistic to the league and the rest of his fellow owners.

That’s the backdrop against which the move was made, and that will rightfully attract plenty of attention and analysis. But in more immediate, pressing terms, the bottom line for Steelers fans is that the team just made a massive upgrade to its staff, and now has three very experienced, highly-regarded defensive minds running the show on that side of the ball.

Adding talent to the roster is the main way that a team improves, but attracting high-end assistant coaches is another tried-and-true method. Mike Munchak made the Steelers better because he turned projects or average offensive linemen into something more than they would have been without his tutelage. The Cleveland Browns saw their offensive line turn into one of the league’s best under Bill Callahan.

Flores is going to be counted upon, among other things, to have a big impact on Devin Bush. He spent three years as a linebackers coach for Belichick before taking the Dolphins job, and if he can find a way to get Bush’s career back on track, it will be a massive boon for the defense.

A new set of eyes and some new ideas are good for just about any business, team, or organization, even (or especially) the most successful ones, and Flores will give the Steelers exactly that. The defensive brain trust hasn’t looked this strong since Tomlin’s early days as head coach, when he and Dick LeBeau were a formidable combination.

If you, like me, have been frustrated by the Steelers’ stay-the-course mentality in the face of middling results, take a second today to be positive. Hiring Brian Flores is something new, fresh and exciting, and it’s also one of the best moves the team has made in a long time.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Mueller: Brian Flores hire a home run for Mike Tomlin, Steelers