Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin appeared on the New Heights podcast run by NFL brothers, former center Jason Kelce and TE Travis Kelce. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end revealed details about his pre-draft meeting with the Steelers coach. The tight end talked about how he walked into a dimly lit hotel room where a film session was being held and saw a famous face right under the lone wall light.
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“I remember meeting you for the first time; it felt like I had known you forever. And it was during the combine… We were in one of the hotel rooms, and we’re going over film, and I remember there’s not a lot of light in those hotel rooms, but there’s always the one wall light and for whatever reason you put Mean Joe Greene right under that light,” Travis Kelce remembered.
Kelce asked Tomlin if placing legendary former Steelers defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene under that light was done just to intimidate the rookie draftees. Tomlin had no problem admitting that it was all part of the game plan.
“By design. First of all, and seriously, first of all, you’re not a real football guy if you didn’t recognize who that was. And if you did recognize who it was, then it certainly was a component of intimidation, dude.
“Hey, I remember it. I remember it perfectly. You walked out of the room, and I was like, ‘Man, there’s a little bit of a risky edge to that guy, but I want a piece of that,’” Mike Tomlin shared on the New Heights Podcast. “I was like, man, that guy could go either way, man. That’s what you’re looking for.”
The Steelers coaching staff loved the intense attitude and passion shown by the young tight end, but Pittsburgh ultimately passed on choosing the TE during the draft.
While Mike Tomlin and the Steelers recognized Travis Kelce’s raw talent at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, off-field concerns caused the University of Cincinnati TE to fall on draft boards across the league. Kelce missed his entire 2010 college football season after serving a suspension for a failed drug test, raising maturity questions among multiple NFL front offices.
These red flags led several teams, including Pittsburgh, to pass on him through the first 2 rounds of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Pittsburgh Steelers ended up selecting other players with their early picks. Jarvis Jones, 17th pick, and Le’Veon Bell, 48th pick, to be exact.
The draft slide ended at pick No. 63 in the third round, when the Chiefs picked Travis. Kansas City’s then-new head coach, Andy Reid, was willing to take a chance on Travis after his older brother, Jason Kelce, personally vouched for his brother’s character and work ethic.
Jason had played under Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles, establishing a trusted relationship that eased organizational concerns for Reid and the Chiefs.
The risk paid immediate dividends for Kansas City, as Travis developed into a cornerstone of the franchise, securing 4 First-Team All-Pro honors and helping the Chiefs to 3 Super Bowl championships under Reid.
However, coming back to Mike Tomlin, the ex-Steelers coach also admitted his love for working with “combustible men” when asked about his thoughts on how things can get heated between coaches and the players on the sidelines between games.
He pointed out that as long as it was about winning, he didn’t care where the ideas came from. It is safe to say that Mike Tomlin would have thoroughly enjoyed having someone like Travis on his roster during his time in the NFL.