Chase Haslett, the tight ends coach for the New Orleans Saints, turned down a promotion with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's the second Saints coach in as many days to do so.
On Tuesday, Saints quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien declined the Steelers' offensive coordinator position, while Haslett declined the Steelers' passing game coordinator/tight ends coach position on Wednesday.
The Saints must be doing something right, because something seems to be brewing in New Orleans. Why else would two young, promising coaches want to stay with a team that only won six games in 2025?
Tyler Shough is a key reason for why Scott Tolzien and Chase Haslett stayed with the Saints
Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough is sure to be the main reason why. He broke multiple team records in his first season, some that were over 40 years old. It was also all through an ever-changing roster, something that led Tolzien to call Shough "a mature player and person." Tolzien was a big part of Shough's record-breaking season, as he was a close mentor to the second-round draft pick from the moment he landed in New Orleans.
"That's for sure something to build on," Tolzien said on Off The Bench. "But at the same time, you don't want to get ahead of yourself. You had a really strong performance at the end of the year, but it's not about what you do yesterday; it's about what you do tomorrow in our profession."
It's also a huge benefit for Shough's development and Juwan Johnson that Chase Haslett is staying. Johnson, who was one of Shough's top targets this year, had the best season of his career under the first-time Saints coach. A wide receiver turned tight end, he had 77 receptions on 102 targets, 889 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in 2025. All of those except touchdowns were career highs for Johnson.