Mike Tomlin Opens Up on Why Steelers Suddenly Released 2-Time Super Bowl Champion
Things often change very quickly in the NFL. For safety Juan Thornhill, the veteran went from playing a starter level amount of snaps to not at all with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then on Monday, the team released him to claim an undrafted rookie free agent off waivers.
Head coach Mike Tomlin offered an explanation to reporters Tuesday on the logic behind that decision.
“You know, the play wasn’t up to snuff. [Sebastian] Castro was available to us. We went through the team development process with Castro,” Tomlin told the media. “We thought he had a good camp, good preseason. He played his tail off in that practice against the Bucs. I think that’s why they stole him from us. We had an opportunity to reacquire him. We’ve absorbed some attrition since he left, so it was an opportunity to get him back.
“It’s more about Castro and less about Juan.”
The end result, though, is the Steelers released a two-time Super Bowl champion safety in his seventh NFL season. In exchange, the team added a safety, Sebastian Castro, who has never played a defensive snap in the league.
Steelers Released Juan Thornhill to Claim Sebastian Castro
Tomlin tried to back track a little with his initial comment, concluding that the safety move the team made Monday was more about Castro. And at 25 years old, the rookie, although undrafted, probably does have more future upside than Thornhill.
But most pundits focused on the initial response Tomlin gave about Thornhill’s play not being “up to snuff.”
The Sporting News’ Mike Moraitis referred to Tomlin’s answer on the veteran safety’s play as “brutally honest.” Fansided’s Nick Halden called the response “a rather damaging sentiment.”
According to the grades at Pro Football Focus, Tomlin’s assessment wasn’t wrong. The PFF player grades have Thornhill rated the second-worst defender who has played a snap for the Steelers this season.
Thornhill posted a 35.9 grade in coverage (out of 100) and 36.9 player grade overall with Pittsburgh. Some pundits have argued PFF’s grading system can be flawed. But even if those grades are a little too harsh for Thornhill, the PFF system doesn’t miss that badly.
Clearly, Thornhill didn’t play particularly well for the Steelers.
Packers WR Christian Watson Has Blunt Reaction to Drop in Eagles Loss
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson isn’t making any excuses about his missed opportunity in Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
In the first quarter, Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw a deep ball to Watson on 3rd-and-20 that he would have given the team possession inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line if he had caught it. Instead, Watson appeared to panic and turned into a defender on the play to stop Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell from making an interception.
On replay, it seemed as though Watson could have made a play on the ball if he had tracked the pass better in the air. And when the question, “Should Watson have caught this?” made the rounds on social media, Watson didn’t hesitate to give a blunt answer.
“Yes,” Watson responded, taking accountability in a repost of the clip on X.
While more of a missed opportunity than a drop, Watson’s mistake marked one of many for the Packers offense in their loss to the Eagles. They punted on their first four drives and didn’t get points on the board until midway through the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, Watson finished with a team-high 45 receiving yards on his two catches, but it offered little consolation as the Packers dropped their second game in as many weeks.
Christian Watson Has Returned to Modest Role for Packers
Watson didn’t come down with a potentially game-changing catch for the Packers in Monday night’s loss to the Eagles, but he has reclaimed a modest role on offense in the three weeks since he returned from the ACL tear that ended his season last January.
Watson has seen four targets in each of the three games since the Packers activated him from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list on October 25, securing eight of them for 188 yards — good for a career-high 23.5 yards per reception. The Packers have also made an effort to dial up at least one deep-shot play for him each week since his return.
If he holds his current pace, Watson will finish with a career high in receiving yards in 2025, even after missing the first six games of the regular season with his recovery.
Even still, Watson’s role could stand to expand in the weeks ahead as the Packers work to figure out ways to snap out of their offensive funk. Star wideout Jayden Reed is still on injured reserve, while first-round rookie Matthew Golden is nursing an injury to his shoulder that held him out of Week 10’s showdown with the Eagles on Monday night.
Regardless of his occasional mistakes, more Watson could be better for the offense.
Packers May Have Also Lost a WR to Injury in Eagles Loss
The Packers may also have no choice but to feature Watson more heavily on offense in the upcoming weeks if wide receiver Romeo Doubs’ chest injury proves significant.
Doubs exited in the third quarter of Monday’s game with a chest injury, and despite the team listing him as questionable to return, he stayed out for the rest of the night as the Packers tried and failed to rally with multiple possessions inside the final two minutes.
While the Packers did not provide an immediate postgame update on Doubs’ condition, it isn’t ideal to have another wide receiver potentially on the injury report. Dontayvion Wicks and rookie Savion Williams both played against the Eagles on Monday night, but they also both entered the matchup with questionable designations due to injuries.
While Wicks and Williams seem to be trending in the right direction, the Packers would take a significant hit if Doubs needed to miss time. He leads the team in receptions (35) and targets (53) through the first nine games and sits second in receiving yards (446) behind tight end Tucker Kraft — who is out for the season — as Love’s top target.
The Packers (5-3-1) will release their first injury report for Week 11’s matchup with the New York Giants (2-8) after Wednesday’s practice, which will provide more details about the injury statuses of Doubs and the rest of their banged-up wide receivers.
