The drafting of Nick Herbig in the fourth round last week did not come as a lone-wolf deal for the Steelers and Mike Tomlin.
If recent history has dictated anything to us, it is that the Steelers are all about the family ties.
Herbig is set to join older brother Nate Herbig as the second brother duo on the Steelers' 2023 roster, alongside Cam and Connor Heyward. In 2022, the Steelers had two brother duos on their 53-man roster with the Heywards and T.J. and Derek Watt, and two more sets of brothers were members of their 90-man roster entering training camp: Trey and Terrell Edmunds, and Carlos and Khalil Davis.
Connor Heyward was drafted last year and, of course, the Steelers also drafted Joey Porter Jr., the son of longtime linebacker (and coach under Tomlin) Joey Porter Sr. The connections to family and brothers have become so commonplace over recent memory that it is almost weird to not see a set suiting up together in black and gold.
Tomlin is not naive to this. On Thursday, he took to his Instagram page for just over three and a half minutes to discuss the "tangibles" and the "intangibles" which have led to what he described as the Steelers' "infatuation" with siblings.
"Good afternoon. I thought it would be cool to talk about a few things that might be interesting to Steeler Nation," Tomlin said to begin the video, as he stood in front of a backdrop of bookshelves. "Because we just had the draft and I know it was kind of the subject of conversation, I thought I would talk about our infatuation, if you will, with siblings."
"There's some real, tangible reasons why we're attracted to siblings, but there are also some real, intangible reasons, and I thought I would go through a couple of them."
Tomlin led off by discussing the "tangibles," with the primary one begin genetics.
He utilized the analogy of the "tangibles" that the son of a postman might have versus those that the son of a professional football player might have, and how genes from a football player carrying over to their sons can be noticeable and a separating factor.
"The height, weight, speed, change of direction of your postman doesn't matter a lot," Tomlin said. "So, if your mailman wants his son to be a mailman, measurables and things of that nature are less significant. In the football business, your ability to have size and speed and agility is a very genetic-related thing, and oftentimes the blessings that God gives us, man, when one person within a household has those talents, those abilities, chances are somebody with shared DNA has similar abilities. That's probably issue or tangible reason number one."
He moved right into talking about the environments in which the siblings grow up in. Of course, when the older brother is on a pathway to something, it would be reasonable to believe that the younger brother, should he want to follow the same route in a career in football, would also take that same pathway.
Tomlin used the example of the Watt brothers playing what were, in all likelihood, "highly competitive" basketball games in their driveway when they were growing up.
"Number two, there's an environmental component to our business, and the competitive spirit, your relationship with the game, things of that nature are very environmental and oftentimes, man, when people hone their talents and skills that God gives them, it occurs in their backyard, in their driveway, on the playgrounds in their neighborhood," Tomlin said. "And, oftentimes that child that grew up in the bed three feet away shares similar environmental shapings and competitive spirit. I'd imagine the basketball games in the Watt backyard, for example, 20 years ago were highly competitive. And, so, those are some tangible reasons."
He then moved on to the "intangibles," starting off with the mindset of having aspirations versus of having dreams to play in the NFL like their respective big brothers.
One of the more refined points he discussed was the removal of the mystique the NFL presents, and how the younger brother gaining exposure from the older brother's experiences of already going through the process helps remove it. He used the Watt family as a prime example, dating to the now-retired J.J. Watt.
"Let's talk about a few intangible reasons. Mindset. Talking about the Watts, I remember when J.J. got drafted, there was a little, skinny 12-year-old-or-so in the green room with him, was skinny and had a mohawk," Tomlin said. "I grew to understand that that kid was T.J. But can you imagine being 11, 12 years old watching a sibling get drafted, hug the commissioner, siting in the green room, all that exposure for a young man? They don't dream about the NFL, man, they aspire to be in the NFL, and that mindset is different. When you're in close proximity to something and you take the mystique out of it, it is a real thing."
The final component to Tomlin's discussion was about how having brothers on the team helps to build the more commonly recognized "brotherhood" within the locker room.
That mainly takes place off the field.
"And, lastly, and this is probably the most important thing. There's a brotherhood in this business," Tomlin said. "When we say there's a 'brotherhood' in this business, we mean that it's 'brother-like.' But what better way to capture the brotherhood than to have real brothers? There's not a guy on our team that didn't feel the emotions of Cam Heyward when he saw Conner score a touchdown in their home town in Atlanta, and I think we all gain from that. Every morning I walk into the cafeteria, man, I'd see T.J. and Derek Watt eating oatmeal at a table, and I'd imagine that's been going on for 20-plus years, and I would imagine that the men that get an opportunity to share a bowl of oatmeal with them in the morning, they gain that understanding -- and there's some ties that bind there that, hopefully, make the concept of 'team' something that's really real."
Tomlin signed off by teasing that more of these social media video chats could be happening in the future:
"Just wanted to talk about that with you a little bit," Tomlin said as he concluded. "We'll have more of these discussions -- hopefully shorter ones -- but, much love, and more ball."
