Todd Haley says all the right things as he begins his tenure with the Browns

The Pittsburgh Steelers let former offensive coordinator Todd Haley walk after the 2017 season, and he didn’t have to wait long, or go far, to find a home. The Cleveland Browns named him their offensive coordinator, and Haley spoke to the media for the first time Wednesday.

Haley said all the right things during the question and answer session, especially about his time in Pittsburgh.

“I have nothing but fond memories,” Haley said. “After sitting down and talking, it was obvious it was time for me to move on to a new challenge.”

Fond memories indeed, although Haley and the Steelers never claimed a Super Bowl title during his tenure in the Steel City. When asked what he felt he accomplished while with Ben Roethlisberger and company, Haley believes a lot was accomplished.

“I was brought in to do a job, and I felt like I did that job or more,” Haley said. “I did a lot of really good things. We developed arguably the best receiver in the league. We developed arguably the best back in the league, one of the top quarterbacks in the league consistently did a lot of good things. We scored a lot of points.

“To be able to go to Pittsburgh and have six really good years was something I really enjoyed. That being said, I’m looking forward, not back.”

The Steelers will be looking forward too, with Randy Fichtner taking over as the offensive coordinator, a promotion from quarterbacks coach.

Time to see what else is going on in Steelers Nation outside the walls of BTSC...

• Mark Madden: New Steelers assistant Tom Bradley has taken enough flak

The Steelers hired Tom Bradley to coach their defensive backs. Bradley was Penn State’s defensive coordinator from 2000-11 and would be that school’s head coach today if not for the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Bradley did stints at West Virginia (2014, defensive line coach/associate head coach) and UCLA (2015-17, defensive coordinator) between Penn State and the Steelers. He is renowned as a one-on-one teacher, able to get through to today’s athlete, and seems emblematic of a trend by the Steelers to hire career coaches instead of ex-players as assistants. Bradley replaces former Steelers defensive back Carnell Lake.

Besides Bradley, the Steelers also recently hired Karl Dunbar to coach the defensive line. Dunbar worked at Alabama the last two seasons. He previously coached with four NFL teams.

Outside ‘backers coach Joey Porter and inside ‘backers coach Jerry Olsavsky have so far survived this new direction. Porter should be fired. He still postures like a player, behaves like a mascot and has overseen the abject lack of progress made by former first-round pick Bud Dupree.

• Tim Benz: Steelers owner Art Rooney’s comments about defense come up short

Many Steelers fans were upset at the cavalier dismissal of concerns surrounding the team’s defense from owner Art Rooney II last week.

They should be.

“We have made some investments there that we feel still have upside ahead of them so we need to add people to it obviously,” said Rooney II last week. “But by the looks of things in the playoffs it’s not easy to play defense in this league anymore. So it’s something that we are trying to adjust to. (There are) A lot of great offenses out there that we have to be ready to match them. So it’s always a challenge now.”

Exactly what is the boss saying there?

That the Steelers could be better, but let’s not make a big deal of it because his defense was a bit better compared to the other bad ones in the National Football League?

I believed when coach Mike Tomlin said “the standard is the standard”, he meant something higher level than that!

I interpreted that phrase as meaning that the high standard of what the Steelers exemplified is the standard the team was supposed to meet.

• FOX Will Televise Draft For Five Years

The draft is coming to FOX. For at least five years, according to John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal.

The duration hardly is coincidental; FOX recently secured the rights to Thursday Night Football for the next five years. Per Ourand, the price for televising the draft is built into the overall price paid by FOX for the TNF rights.

FOX will simulcast NFL Network’s Thursday, consisting of the first round, and Friday coverage, which includes rounds two and three. It’s unclear what will happen on Saturday for rounds four through seven. Per Ourand, FOX has commitments for the third day of the 2018 draft, and it may not be able to adjust them.

FOX will co-produce the event with NFL Network.