Mike Tomlin’s Media Availability at the Annual League Meeting
On Monday, NFL GMs and Head Coaches met for their annual league meeting, where Mike Tomlin was able to speak with the media.
Click here to watch the entire media availability.
This media availability kicked off with questions about the quarterback situation, which nobody in the world saw coming. Signing Russell Wilson was the first thing that was addressed. When asked what led to the decision to pursue Russell Wilson, Mike Tomlin had this to say: “We were looking at…every potentially available person on the market.” He followed that up with: “His level of preparedness in terms of knowing us and who we are and how he might be a potential fit…” and how that was also a contributing factor. While I understand the question, the fact is that Russell Wilson wanted to be a Steeler, and he was available for the vet minimum. End of story.
Personally, I was most eager to hear Tomlin’s version of events that led to Kenny Pickett being moved, and the Steelers acquiring Justin Fields. Here it is: “In the days following our acquisition of Russell, Kenny expressed a desire for a change of scenery. We had been in pretty fluid conversation with Chicago. After we got a sense of what direction that was going, then the dominos started to fall and we did the transactions necessary.”
In layman’s terms, the situation is exactly as it has been reported. That discussion led to Coach T. commenting on the acquisition of Justin Fields, during which he gave a glowing endorsement of his new QB: “Oh my gosh, man, he oozes talent and potential. He’s worn the responsibility of being a franchise quarterback, but he gets the opportunity to come into a community-like situation and learn from a guy that’s been doing it for over a decade. Man, there’s a lot of meat left on that bone. I’m just excited about working to be a part of extracting it.”
Coach Tomlin showed a lot of interest back in 2021, when Justin Fields was preparing for the draft, so you can bet your ass he’s excited about getting to work with him this year. One thing Coach said during this discussion that did catch me by surprise was that he and Justin Fields haven’t met “in a professional way” yet, but surely that will happen when Justin Fields returns to the states (last I checked he was in Germany at a youth football camp). In the meantime, Coach expressed, once again, that Russell Wilson has “pole position” in terms of first-team reps, mainly due to his year-round routine as a seasoned veteran in the league, but that Justin Fields would be given an opportunity to compete for the starting job.
That was, pretty much, all that Coach Tomlin was willing to say about the extremely newsworthy topics that most of yinz were probably looking out for. I was excited to hear his comments about the acquisition of LB Patrick Queen, in which he said: “Excited about having Pat. Pat’s a unique guy in that he has both youth and experience…he’s an all-situations guy.”
With all the quarterback and receiver drama as of late, the Pat Queen signing has gotten sweeped under the rug. However, that is arguably my favorite offseason move thus far; I’m just a slut for good defense.
Continuing on the defensive side of the ball, Coach Tomlin was asked if there were plans to add to the defensive line at some point this offseason. His response: “We’re looking to add players at every position to be honest with you. I don’t know that there’s been an offseason where I haven’t been shopping at the defensive line.”
Coach can shrug it off as if it’s not that big of a deal, but he’s not fooling me. The defensive line is definitely a huge need for us before OTAs begin this summer.
Another big team need that came up during media availability was the receiver position. It’s worth mentioning that the news of us signing WR Quez Watkins came out after the media spoke with Coach Tomlin. With that being said, Coach was asked what skillset(s) he finds desirable in a potential receiver to play opposite of George Pickens. He said: “Playmaking comes in all different shapes and sizes. When you come in with preconceived notions, all you do is limit yourself.”
I get what he’s saying, but Diontae Johnson was arguably the best option in the entire league to play opposite of Pickens, because of his ability to run both short and intermediate routes at an elite level. Watkins is a good, speedy addition to the WR room, but there’s no clear number two quite yet, and that’s something that’s going to have to be addressed soon.
There weren’t very many notable quotes to come out of this media availability, unfortunately. I’m just excited we got to listen to that wordsmith say stuff in front of a camera during what has been a pretty brutal week in terms of relevant news. There’s plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks! Let’s just keep swimming right into draft season.
Here. We. Go.
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