Mike Tomlin reportedly drove the decision to trade Pickens.
A new report from longtime Steelers writer and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly claims that none other than head coach Mike Tomlin [...] wanted the talented-but-temperamental player out of town.
“Make no mistake about it, Tomlin — who has gone out of his way in the past to defend Pickens — is the one who decided that the Pickens rehabilitation project needed to end a year early,” Kaboly writes. “The ultimate decision had very little to do with general manager Omar Khan (although he signed off on it, too), and of course it was OK’d by team owner Art Rooney II.