"Wasn't a lot of hesitation" - Mike Tomlin comes clean on viral rumor about Bill Belichick botching Jets' big plan

Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin are two of the NFL's most successful coaches. One of the reasons for that might be their ability to identify openings, some of them mutually beneficial.

The Pittsburgh Steelers coach came clean about how the Steelers intended to get their man in last month's draft. They picked Broderick Jones 14th after jumping from their initial position at 17. They traded their pick to the New England Patriots to move up.

A reason for doing so was to move ahead of the New York Jets at 15, who were widely viewed as looking for an offensive tackle. They got Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay Packers and have a defense that finished among the top four last year. Their wide receiver corps includes former Packers receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, along with the Offensive Rookie of the Year, Garrett Wilson.

Hence, there was a thought that protecting Rodgers would be their first priority and they would draft a tackle like Broderick Jones. The Pittsburgh Steelers had their eyes set on him, too, so knew they probably had to jump ahead of the Jets.

Luckily for Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, the New England Patriots are in the same division as the New York Jets and were ahead of them in the draft order. By giving the Steelers the chance to take Broderick Jones, Bill Belichick could, in effect, throw a wrench in the works of their division rivals.

Mike Tomlin seemed to confirm that line of thinking motivated Belichick. On "The Rich Eisen Show," he said:

"We had Broderick as an individual priority. They (New York Jets) might be fishing in those waters, and so we did what we thought we needed to do to get the player in the position that we coveted. ... I’ll put it this way: There wasn’t a lot of hesitation on New England’s end."

Did Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick succeed in thwarting the New York Jets?

It is not clear that the New York Jets were put in a difficult position because of the scheming between Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick. Because instead of looking on offense, they selected edge rusher Will McDonald IV in the first round, beefing up their defense.

They then moved on to offense in Round 2, but went for a new center in Joe Tippmann. It was only with their third overall pick in Round 4 that they selected an offensive tackle in Carter Warren.