Former Steelers Defender Reveals How Mike Tomlin Reached A Breaking Point With Minkah Fitzpatrick

The reputation of the Pittsburgh Steelers has started to take a severe downturn as everything seems to be getting worse for the organization. From top to bottom, terrible information is getting leaked about the team, and the real culture has been coming to light. The more people talk, the more incriminating information comes out about the leaders of the franchise. It's obvious that things may need to change soon. It starts with the men up top and their core philosophies. If nothing changes, fans will get louder with their angry chants. 

It gets worse when people from within the organization are the ones talking about how the franchise is having problems. While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan former Steeler Breiden Fehoko spoke about a couple of different issues that popped up between Minkah Fitzpatrick and the coaching staff that eventually led to him being traded away.

"It was 2023, the Green Bay game, where Minkah [Fitzpatrick] and [Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin] got into it," Fehoko said. "That was one of those things where Minkah had a headset and TA called a call. Minkah didn't like it, and Mike [Tomlin] didn't like what Minkah said to TA. So, they burned a timeout, they're talking about it. They're not getting into a heated argument, but TA is telling Minkah to calm down."

This was not the first time that Fitzpatrick had expressed displeasure with the schematics and play-calling from his bosses. It was evident that he was not a fan of how they did things, and he was not afraid to let them know that, especially after signing his latest extension in Pittsburgh. Clearly, Head Coach Mike Tomlin did not take kindly to that. 

Afterwards, Fehoko was asked if that was part of the reason that Fitzpatrick was traded away in the 2025 offseason. He agreed and added on a couple of other reasons why the team was happy to make him pack his bags.

"I think there's a lot of things; I think it was maybe that instance," Fehoko said. "The postgame interview where Minkah was talking about reaping the rewards and not just showing up and expecting to ball out, I think that was another incident, and then ultimately, just the compensation of what they were paying him and the production just wasn't equaling one another."

Once again, Fitzpatrick spoke his mind about bad things happening around the team, and Tomlin was not happy about it. The big question now is if his yearly salary would have been enough of a reason to trade him if he was not critical of his own team and coaching staff. Yes, he was not producing nearly as many turnovers as he had, but that was mostly because of opposing offenses scheming him out of the game. 

Fehoko did confirm that the Steelers are over-reliant on takeaways and big negative plays. When teams stopped throwing to Fitzpatrick when he was practically playing centerfield, a reason to trade him away came up. The franchise wasn't paying him to walk up into the box to make tackles. The coaching staff wanted takeaways, so when that stopped working, he was scapegoated and sent him back to the Miami Dolphins.

Steelers Facing Harsh Reality About Tomlin

There have been some rumors that Tomlin does not like being challenged on anything. Fehoko's story only reinforces that narrative, and it's a big problem with the team as a whole. Tomlin and others have certain ways that they do things, and they appear to be way too stubborn to change from that. They would rather change others than themselves.

In the NFL, the best coaches are the ones that can adapt and change the best. If you don't, you get left behind like Tomlin and his Steelers. That's a big reason why they fans are chanting "Fire Tomlin" now. Fitzpatrick was not a problem on the team like everyone was made to believe; he was just the canary in the coal mine.

What do you think about Fitzpatrick and the coaches having multiple disagreements before being traded away? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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