JuJu Smith-Schuster Gushes Over Mike Tomlin in Andy Reid Comparison

On Sunday, JuJu Smith-Schuster will be playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, but the former Steelers wide receiver still fondly remembers his time in Pittsburgh while playing for Mike Tomlin.

Joining the Rich Eisen Show on Saturday, Smith-Schuster was asked to compare the styles of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Tomlin, and to no one’s surprise, Smith-Schuster gave both of them praise. In fact, his comments paint the two coaches as very similar in their management of people in the locker room.

“I would say the biggest thing I takeaway is they’re always for the players,” Smith-Schuster said. “The feeling I get with Andy Reid and Coach Tomlin is that I don’t want to disappoint them. They make everything like, it’s more so when you get in trouble and don’t want your grandmother mad because she’s my favorite grandmother. I go out there and then I mess up, and you get upset with yourself and make them disappointed. That’s how I feel for them. And that’s why we go hard every day.”

In fact, JuJu Smith-Schuster said it was not even a look of disapproval that they give that quakes his boots. Instead, it is the way the players are treated. Because they want to run through the metaphorical brick wall, it is hard for the players not to get amped up to play for those coaches. But Tomlin might just have that type of look that can strike a bit of fear in a player, too.

“You do get a look with Coach Tomlin,” Smith-Schuster said. “He has that look. But you kinda just know, you get that look, and you don’t want to say anything. It’s like, alright, time to move on.”

Smith-Schuster still remembers his time in Pittsburgh fondly. There have been times when he has noted his development in schematic knowledge while playing for Reid, but it seems his praise for Tomlin’s locker room style management never tempers.