Being the position coach for a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback who is destined to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer is a lot like being tourism director for Hawaii. It doesn't take a lot of work to do your job well.
Mike Sullivan has had the good fortune of being in that position not just once, but twice, in his 17-year NFL coaching career.
He was the quarterback coach for Ben Roethlisberger's 18th and final season with the Steelers in 2021. And he was the quarterback coach (and later offensive coordinator) for Eli Manning when he was with the New York Giants during two separate stints between 2010 and 2017. Roethlisberger and Manning were each taken in the first round of the 2004 draft. Each player won two Super Bowls.
"To a large degree, a lot stays the same but a lot changes just because the guy who has been there for 18 years and was very comfortable in the system, a future Hall of Famer, (is not there)," Sullivan said. "I'm really grateful for having had that year I had with him and the opportunity to work with Ben."
Sullivan's job, though, is a little more entrusted in his second season with the Steelers.
For starters, he has to get newcomer Mitch Trubisky prepared to replace Roethlisberger and likely be the starter when the Steelers open the season on Sept. 11 in Cincinnati.
But, just as important, he has to help develop rookie Kenny Pickett and get the team's No. 1 draft choice on the fast track to eventually be the team's starting quarterback, whenever that may be. NFL teams don't draft quarterbacks in the first round and let them sit on the bench for any appreciable amount of time unless the quarterback in front of them is Aaron Rodgers. Just ask Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers.
And he does have another rookie quarterback, Chris Oladokun, the team's seventh-round choice, to develop. In the end, Oladokun could be more than just an extra arm at training camp.
"Now you come into it where you have two rookies and another in Mitchell coming in — this is his third coordinator in four years," Sullivan said. "There's a learning curve there. Like most offenses, we want to get better. We spent some time looking at ourselves, looking at other teams, studying trends and how we can adjust and feature the strengths of the guys so there are a lot of new wrinkles."
One player Sullivan doesn't have to worry about as much: Mason Rudolph, who is in his fifth season with the team and second under offensive coordinator Matt Canada. His experience with the offense and terminology does not require the same amount of hands-on attention.
It's part of the reason Rudolph has looked very self-assured ad sharp during the first week of training camp. Things begin to change a little more beginning Monday when the players don pads for the first time
Still, it's not the same as having a guy who has won 178 NFL games, including two Super Bowls.
"It's different in that, the detail of every little thing, you can't take for granted that someone has done this for 18 years," Sullivan said. "This is the very first time they've heard these terms and the first time they've repped these concepts. That's what has been a challenge, but it's a fun challenge."
Pickett, the 20th overall pick in the draft, did not exactly have a sterling start to his first week at training camp. But it is important to note he is working on offense with the third- and fourth-team players who are just as inexperienced as him.
Still, there are other aspects of what he has done that have already impressed Sullivan.
"The amount of time he puts in — he really grinds it out," Sullivan said. "The questions he asks, the detail he wants to go into, the time he puts in, you see it displayed out on the field. You see that understanding and that maturity not typical of a rookie quarterback."
But it's not just the intangibles that have stood out with Pickett, Sullivan said.
"I've seen him do a great job consistently, particularly moving to his left. Whether by design or scrambling, he's very, very good fundamentally and accurate, both right and left, and not just short but also intermediate passes. That's something he has worked on and obviously developed."
For a person who has a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Sullivan's job is the get one of the quarterbacks ready to put a submission hold on the starting position. It's a job not as easy as the ones he's had twice before in his career.
