Chase Claypool wants practices to be more fun.

His coach disagrees.

The Abbotsford Panthers grad and star receiver with the National Football League鈥檚 Pittsburgh Steelers suggested Monday that adding music to the team鈥檚 practices might help the struggling group. Claypool offered the thought a day after his crew fell 41-10 to their longtime rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals.

鈥淲e have music in the warm ups and that, so it鈥檚 fun,鈥� the 23-year-old said in a Zoom call with reporters. 鈥淧eople are dancing, having fun. So I think maybe music would make practice more fun and little more uptempo.鈥�

Mike Tomlin, the no-nonsense head coach in Pittsburgh, didn鈥檛 seem to appreciate the input.

鈥淐laypool plays wideout and I鈥檒l let him do that,鈥� Tomlin said. 鈥淚鈥檒l formulate the practice approach, and that division of labor is probably appropriate.鈥�

A veteran teammate who takes things very seriously was even more blunt when asked about it on a Pittsburgh-area radio station.

鈥淚 hope he was kidding,鈥� defensive end Cameron Heyward told Randy Baumann on the DVE Morning Show Tuesday morning, 鈥淏ecause as soon as he said it, I was literally about to rip the speaker out.鈥�

鈥淭hat is not what we need right now. It鈥檚 Xs and Os and it鈥檚 execution.鈥�

Claypool鈥檚 Steelers are 5-5-1 and last in the four-team AFC North as they prepare to host division rival Baltimore (8-3) Sunday (Dec. 5).

eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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