Mike Tomlin decided to dip into the pool of former NFL wide receivers to hire the person to coach that position with the Steelers.
And the hire wasn't somebody who was on anyone's radar.
Tomlin on Tuesday tapped former Giants star Ike Hilliard as his replacement for interim wide receivers coach Ray Sherman. Sherman came out of retirement in last August after Steelers wide receivers coach Darryl Drake died at training camp.
Hilliard, the seventh pick in the 1997 draft out of Florida, played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Giants and Buccaneers, catching 546 passes for 6,397 yards and 35 touchdowns before retiring following the 2008 season.
He immediately went into coaching, first with the Florida Tuskers in the UFL as a volunteer coach before becoming the full-time wide receivers coach under former and future NFL head coaches Jim Haslett and Jay Gruden.
In 2011, Hilliard was hired as assistant wide receivers coach with the Dolphins and was then hired in 2012 by Mike Shanahan as his wide receivers coach with the Redskins.
Hilliard left the Redskins in 2013 to become wide receivers coach with the Bills, before rejoining the Redskins the following season when Gruden was hired to replace Shanahan. Hilliard continued working with the Redskins through the end of the 2019 season, helping rookie Terry McLaurin post one of the better seasons among NFL rookies last year.
Working with young receivers will again be Hilliard's task with the Steelers. JuJu Smith-Schuster, heading into his fourth NFL season, is the team's most veteran receiver in a unit that also includes James Washington, Diontae Johnson, Deon Cain and Ryan Switzer.
Johnson led the Steelers and all rookies last season with 59 receptions, while Washington posted a team-best 735 yards in his second NFL season.
Smith-Schuster struggled through an injury-plagued campaign to catch just 42 passes for 552 yards and three touchdowns, a stark contrast from the 111 catches for 1,426 yards and seven scores he posted in 2018.
The hiring of Hilliard marks the final piece to Tomlin's coaching staff for 2020. He previously hired former Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada as his quarterbacks coach.
Tomlin also had interviewed South Carolina offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon and former Steelers receiver and current Carolina Panthers assistant wide receivers coach Jerricho Cotchery for the wide receivers coaching position.
