"I'm not trying to get canceled" - Steelers safety deletes wild Mike Tomlin-Osama bin Laden comparison post

Pittsburgh Steelers safety DeShon Elliott opened up on the stir he caused with a wild post comparing Mike Tomlin to the late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In the middle of October, Elliott raised plenty of eyebrows around the NFL with a 9/11 reference against the New York Jets.

The post featured images from the Steelers's 37-15 win against Aaron Rodgers and Co., including an edit of Mike Tomlin's face onto Osama bin Laden's. During an appearance on Marlon Humphrey's podcast "The Punchline" on Wednesday, Elliott talked about the aftermath of that decision and revealed that the team made him take the post down. (25:18 onwards)

"I'm not trying to get canceled, bro," Elliott said. "I've said some wild things here the last couple of weeks, bro. I'm trying to keep my image together. I put out this one post. This meme account had tagged me and T.J. Watt in his account, and it was a picture of coach Tomlin on the face of Osama bin Laden."

"I put it in our group message because I thought it was funny. I put it in my dump (on Instagram). Me, I genuinely post what I want to post. I say what I want to say. I didn't think it was going to get any backlash because it was funny. Then, all of a sudden, it blew up everywhere," he added.

Everything subsided after President Art Rooney II started getting letters complaining about this post in his house, prompting Omar Khan to contact the Steelers safety's agent to delete the post.

Even though he found himself in a complex position with Pittsburgh Steelers fans, DeShon Elliott and the team have moved on from that incident and are on a roll now. The safety has registered 42 solo tackles, one forced fumble, one interception and four passes defended.

Pittsburgh Steelers are on a roll after latest win against Washington Commanders

After spending the 2023 season with the Dolphins, DeShon Elliott settled in with the Steelers. Mike Tomlin and Co. have welcomed him with open arms and the safety is getting the most out of this opportunity. After a rocky 2023 campaign, Pittsburgh made some changes and added Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to the quarterback room.

Following Fields's shaky start to the season, Wilson took over, and Pittsburgh has become one of the most consistent teams in the league (7-2). With Wilson on the field, they beat the Jets, Giants, and Commanders, looking like a legitimate candidate to compete for the throne of the AFC.