Plenty of Former Steelers Prepare for Super Bowl LV
If time travel was real (or at least publicly discovered for you conspiracy theorists), I'd pay a hefty amount of money to travel to 2017 and tell everybody about the future. The faces of excitement and pure joy telling Pittsburgh Steelers fans that both Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell were vying for a Lombardi Trophy would only be topped by filling in the rest of the story.
You know, the rest of the story that includes Brown receiving passes from Tom Brady... in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform... with Le'Veon bouncing from the New York Jets to the Kansas City Chiefs during the regular season.
Life has an odd sense of humor, especially if you're a Steelers fan. Watching Pittsburgh start 11-0 to only crash and burn in fashions never seen before is one tough fact to swallow, yet watching the likes of either Brown or Bell emerge as a Super Bowl champion only adds to the pain.
Some Steelers' fans are already sick of the media making a big deal out of the two former superstars who once donned the black and gold, reaching the final step before the pinnacle of professional football.
I get it. That narrative can be tiresome, and given how each player departed, it's borderline annoying that no matter what is done, either of the two will always be referenced for how things went sour in the Steel City. However, given Pittsburgh's colossal collapse and two weeks of time to pass, Bell/Brown will remain relevant storylines in the media, perhaps even deep into the broadcast of the actual game.
Yet Bell and Brown aren't the only former members of the organization who find themselves just sixty minutes away from dubbing themselves as Super Bowl LV Champions.
Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians served as the Steelers' offensive coordinator from 2007-2011, and as the team's wide receivers coach from 2004-2006. Arians won Super Bowl XL and XLIII with the team prior to the Steelers not renewing his contract following the 2011 season.
Arians isn't the only member of the Buccaneers' coaching staff to previously win championships with the Steelers, as outside linebackers coach Larry Foote played 11 seasons as a linebacker with the Steelers, also winning the last two Super Bowls the team won for the 2005/2008 seasons.
On the opposite side of the ball for Tampa Bay, Steelers fans will recognize the likes of Byron Leftwich (offensive coordinator) and Antwaan Randle El (offensive assistant). Leftwich found himself on Pittsburgh's roster in two different stints (2008, 2010-2012), appearing in just eight games over during his time in black and gold. Leftwich earned a Super Bowl ring in 2008 with the team.
Randle El spent a total of five seasons as a receiver/return man in Pittsburgh after being drafted by the Steelers in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft. Randle El, who played quarterback in college, has the NFL's highest passer rating (156.1) for any player with over 10 passing attempts per the Buccaneer's official website.
Steelers fans remember exactly how good of a passer he was.
Notable former Steelers on Tampa Bay's roster also include Ross Cockrell (played with Pittsburgh from 2015-2016) and defensive linemen Steve McLendon (2010-2015).
With no significant Pittsburgh ties within Kansas City's coaching staff and only two former Steelers aside from Bell on the Chiefs' roster (punter Dustin Colquitt and offensive linemen Stefen Wisniewski, both cut in season this year by Pittsburgh), it's clear how heavy Arians' past in Pittsburgh has influenced the current mold of the Buccaneers.
Superstar or coach. Tenured or a mere blip on the roster. Past or present. However the cookie crumbles on Super Bowl Sunday, a sliver of Pittsburgh's past will etch their names in football's history books.
Donnie Druin is a Staff Writer with AllSteelers. Follow Donnie on Twitter @DonnieDruin, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
