Arthur Moats Says It Is Obnoxious How Steelers Fans Still Whine About Mike Hilton

_OkayArthur Moats, former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, hosts a podcast called The Arthur Moats Experience. On his most recent episode, he discussed another former Steeler, Mike Hilton, and how fans still whine and complain about letting him go. He also compared Hilton to current Steelers cornerback, Cam Sutton. 

Did The Steelers Make A Mistake Letting Sutton Go?

In 2021, the Steelers had a decision to make regarding their cornerback situation. Should they pay Hilton the huge amount of money he wanted (and probably deserved), or should they go with the cheaper option and extend Cam Sutton? Seeing how the organization was already somewhat cash strapped and there were other more pressing contracts on the horizon (like TJ Watt), they decided to roll the dice and let Hilton explore free agency. 

And explore, he did. Hilton signed on with the Cincinnati Bengals in March of 2021, with a whopping $24 million, four-year deal. The Bengals seemed to have found exactly what they were looking for in a CB, making the playoffs the last two years. 

Does that mean the Steelers lost out? Made a huge mistake? According to Moats, the answer is no. Moats said that the fans who cry, "I miss Mike" and "How could you let Mike go," try to make this some kind of an indictment against the Steelers and it just isn't.

"I'm like bro, how do you get that from this? The scenarios were very different in the time when we made that decision. It made sense. None of us were over here tripping."

He also suggests that the situations might be different if Sutton had the same kind of attention on his play. 

"You don't think if Cam Sutton's getting to play on a Bengals defense and he's getting a chance to be spotlighted on Divisional round, Wild Card round, AFC Championship, Super Bowl that we would feel the same about him? That's the difference."

The implication is that fans just want what they do not have. That if Sutton had been released instead of Hilton, fans would be saying that we didn't keep Sutton long enough for him to live up to his full potential. 

"We don't ever say any of that in the regular season because it's the regular season, but right now we would be in the postseason. We know the stakes are high and we're having to watch this Bengals team and he is a part of their success. Yeah, we feel extra about that man, but we knew who Mike Hilton was when he was here."    

Moats said that it isn't really fair to compare the two players' apples to apples. Despite both being cornerbacks, they each have their own skill sets. 

Deke, the co-host of the show, said that he feels Hilton is better at blitzing than Sutton, but that he likes Sutton better in coverage. Moats agreed:

"Cam is a better cover guy in terms of man-to-man and just overall coverage aspect. I think Mike Hilton is way better against the run and I think that he is a dope one-cover guy, but he's very limited when you're talking man-to-man, I think Cam isn't as limited in either element of his coverage. But both of them dudes are nice though."

One has to wonder if the Steelers had picked up the tab on Hilton, who would we have lost instead? NFL teams are designed in such a way that you cannot have every elite player on your roster, there just isn't enough money. Teams have to carefully weigh the risks vs the rewards and try to field a team with the best bang for their buck. 

Do you think the Steelers made a mistake letting Hilton go? Who do you think we would not have if we chose to keep him? What do you think of Cam Sutton's performance? Comment below!

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