Coach Mike Tomlin Press Conference (July 23) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Coach Mike Tomlin Press Conference (July 23) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Certainly, we’re excited about uh the start of our camp for 2025. It’s good to see this collection of talent that we’ve been able to assemble even into uh the summer. We continue to work on the talent acquisition component of this team development. But now, you know, the vast majority of that is over and now it’s about developing individual and collective football skills, uh, divisional labor roles, um, technical expertise, and so um, just really excited um, just to look at the group, really excited to see the group uh, work today and display their physical conditioning, their readiness in that area. And so now we embark upon this journey that will be our 2025 season. I’ll pause and open it up for questions. Mike, I know every year you have turnover, of course. Uh, have you ever had so much turnover, but you use the word talent, talented players like this, and how do you make it all mesh together? I’m really excited about about this and maybe in a lot of ways from that perspective, this is new territory for us. Um but but oftentimes our interest in people um is dependent upon relationships and so um they might be new to the Pittsburgh Steelers but most of the guys that we’ve acquired we’ve um had some intimate knowledge of them as individuals and as players and it’s really liked them at earlier portions of their career at different points in the in the process. Hey Mike, obviously you work in the business realm of this this sport, but to have TJ Watts signed now and you think about potential distractions, how much of a relief or you check the box on having that done now? You know, certainly we’re we’re glad that that the business component of it is done and he’s here and and ready to work. Um, but I don’t know about the relief component of it. I just I just know when the two sides are are properly motivated, him wanting to be here and us wanting him here, um that it was a matter of time before it worked out. And I think uh the speed in which it happened once they really got got focused and serious is reflective of that. Mike, is everybody here and do you have any bump candidates or any um everyone is present and accounted for? We have one NFI. Um Isaac Smallalu’s got a soft tissue injury that could slow him at the early portions of this, but other than that, all present and accounted for and ready to work tomorrow morning. Mike, you just talked about TJ Watt. You know, he’s talked a lot about this big difference between guys who are great players, have won Super Bowls and guys who haven’t during this next chunk of his tenure here in Pittsburgh. What steps be taken to help him become one of those Lombardi oysters? You know, I’m not worried about the rest of his tenure. I’m worried about 2025 and so um I’m excited about the talent that we’ve acquired and um now that’s about getting about the business of readying them individually and collectively for this season. Um our intentions are 2025. You mentioned some of those relationships. Jaylen Ramsay said you met with him all the way back during his pro days. What is it about his skill set and everything that wanted, you know, kind of prompted bringing him in here all these years later? Um he’s a football player first and a positional player second. Um when he came out in the draft, I think he was the number one safety on our board as well as the number one corner on our board. And I think that speaks to his versatility. Um his tape has done nothing but solidify that perspective that we had on him since he’s been in the league. Um over the course of his career, you’ve seen him do a variety of things, play inside and play out. Um all the components of the game, uh man-to-man coverage, run support. um he has an appetite for it all and I think that’s why uh we were excited about him when he came out and that’s why we continue to have that level of excitement about him and excited about him being a component of this. What do you remember about that pro day dinner? What what impressed you most back then? Just just his line of questioning was was really impressive. Sometimes you know just the nature of the questions um are attractive. He had good educated questions. Um he asked about things that are really pertinent to being successful uh in football and in this league and and when they’re in the right neighborhood from a question standpoint that gives you a good insight into their mindset and and and definitively he’s confirmed that over the course of his career. How does he fit into replacing MA part of that equation for you guys? You know, I don’t know that he fits in in terms of replacing MA, but you know, this is a this is a coverage league. Um, you need unbelievable depth and talent at the quarterback position because people have it in their receiver cores. Um, we use a variety of schematics in the effort to to minimize passing offenses, but you got to be able to play matchup football. You got to be able to play man-to-man, particularly versus the elite and deep groups. and the and the talent that we’ve acquired at that position, particularly the quarterback position, allows us to do that in all circumstances. When you got guys like Jerry uh Jaylen Ramsey and Slay and JPJ, man, we can match up and play man-to-man versus anyone. And so, that’s what’s exciting to us, our ability to match up and play manto man against anyone in this game. And I think it’s going to do nothing but strengthen our schematics, the supplemental things, the zone pressures, the bogus pressures, and things of that nature. And so really excited about the talent that we acquired particularly at the cornerback position and you can add Brandon Eckles to that discussion as well. Um we’ve done an awesome job with fortifying that corner position from a talent and depth standpoint that’s going to allow us to match up against some of the many explosive units and players within them that we compete against. How important is that as well to compound with or to counter what teams have been trying to do with a quick passing attack to slow down guys like TJ Watt and your defense? Again, I I don’t care about what the Joneses are up to. I’m talking about why we build and why we’re focused. Um, acquiring talent at that position and depth at that position, I think is critical to playing elite defense in 2025. Now, the business side is done with TJ. Have you guys had football conversations along those lines about maybe moving him around a little bit more, doing different things with him, or are those conversations to come here? Those conversations have been ongoing um in spite of the business. Um, you know, we’ve had an ongoing relationship for a number of years and he’s got a desire to be obviously successful and we do for him as well and so that’s just been ongoing as part of our off season uh leading up to to now. Mike, will you start Ramsey in a specific spot and then see what he can do from there or do you want to kind of move him around and see where he best fits? Um, we’re going to start him regardless. Where we move him around and and things really depends on what what offenses are doing. Make no mistake, those top three corners that I mentioned, Jaylen Ramsey, Slay, and Joey Porter Jr., they’re going to be on the field. I don’t care what offenses come out in. Is Slay at all a safety potential or they’re coverage people? Uh, describe them however you wish to describe them. Uh, they’re capable of covering eligibles and minimizing the timing and successfulness of offensive passing game. Mike Williams cover four in that regard. Man, we got all we got everything at our disposal with this collection of coverage people to be quite honest with you. But that’s why we we had the intentions that we had in terms of the talent acquisition. You’re saying they’re coverage people. Was that when you added tight end or tight ends and receivers? They just catch the ball people. Is that the same? They’re eligibles. Exactly. They’re receivers as an RECC. So would you say the same thing about John Smith that you said about Jay as far as being a football player first and then position second? Without a doubt. And and the intentions were the same there. and we really view it through the same lens. Uh, forget how you describe him, a Y, an H, a Z, or what have you. The bottom line is, man, he’s a dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. He’s a matchup issue. I think he led the quote unquote tight end group in the NFL last year in terms of yards after catch. He had 800 plus yards and eight touchdowns. And so, that’s an eligible that’s capable of making some splash plays for us and doing it in a variety of ways, who has firsthand experience with our offensive play caller. And so we’re really excited about that. Mike, the flip side of all that is Mink is gone. How difficult was it to part ways with someone who meant so much to this very difficult um his his experience here and the production that he gave us um speaks for itself. Um but you got to make tough choices and obviously I’ve been talking glowingly about two top-notch players um that we acquired in that um but I don’t obviously lessen the impact of a player like MA. So, we’re really excited about the acquisition of two significant players on both sides of the ball, particularly as it pertains to the passing game, but certainly has created challenges in other areas that I’m excited about sorting through in an environment like this where we divide the labor up and see who’s capable of what. Mike, how do you get Aaron ready for the season, but also be a little careful being 41? He’s a workaholic. Um, I don’t have a whole lot of reservations about that. Um, I I think he’s hardened himself over the course of his career with his attitude toward work. Uh, certainly I’m gonna limit him in some instances, but when I do, it’s going to be more about elevating opportunities for guys like Will Howard and less about preserving him to be quite honest with you. He didn’t participate in any of the team forces in practice during mini camp. Was that because of how new he was to you? And do you You said it. And then do you anticipate him being ready to go for that kind of stuff starting tomorrow? Absolutely. Spencer Anderson, step in for Isaac and what’s your timeline for Isaac? You know, I don’t have a specific timeline for Isaac as I sit here today because I hadn’t, you know, had intimate meetings with the medical staff just in terms of the declaration. Uh, but certainly I’m comfortable with Spence. Uh, Isaac didn’t get a lot of work in the spring and Spence did and Spence has played a lot of ball for us here in recent years, uh, particularly at that position and so no real angst in in regards to that discussion. Mike, you said that you’re just worried about 2025 right now, but how do you do you even consider 2026, 27, 28 or you leave that up to Omar of saying, you know, we’re not trying to I’m standing at this podium on the first day of training camp, man. I am not looking beyond the here and now. Mike, does having you call this new territory in a way for for your group. This you’ve been doing this a long time. Does that add a little bit of juice for you personally because the challenge is maybe a little bit different than you faced previously? I could tell you that, but you know, it’s July 23rd, man. It’s juice time. Uh this is who we are. This is what we do. Uh the juice would be there regardless. Like when you’re talking about bringing in new players and assimilating them into the team schematically and culturally, how different is it when you’re talking about guys who are former MVPs, multiple time all pros, and and how do you go about that? going to be different than a regular edition. You know, I I don’t know that it’s dramatically different. Um, you know, this team development process is development in a lot of ways as individuals um from a knowledge perspective, from a technical development perspective perspective, but it’s also as a collective. And that collective growth has a lot to do with teamwork and and gaining an understanding of the things that we value here culturally and things of that nature. And so that applies to all new people regardless of what their resumes might read. Um I think it’s one of the benefits of coming to a destination camp. Um and we do so very intentionally because it gives us an opportunity to capture that which we cannot measure but we know is significant in terms of team building. That’s that intangible component of team that mutual respect that understanding uh that knowledge beyond surface level things. we get an opportunity to work at that in an environment like this just as just as we do the tangible things. Mike, when when you were having your initial offseason meetings in in January, by the time you got to this moment on July 23rd, did you anticipate this much change, this much travel with the roster? You know, I you know, we just go about the business of building our team to the best of our ability and and you know, in some instances during that initial discussion, we didn’t know that certain people would be available. And so I just think everyone starts their journey that time of year with the with the intentions of being the very best that they can be assimulating the best 90 which you take to 53. And that’s always our mentality. That was our mentality then. Some of the opportunities kind of came up along the way. And so I’d be misrepresenting the intentions or the mindset if I talked about some of that way back in January. Going back to what you said at the outset about the talent acquisition process still potentially being ongoing. Um Johnny coming here, does that offset the departure of Pickkins a little bit or is that an avenue that you still might be investigating? We’ll see. I think that’s those some of those questions are answered in in team development and in the performance of not only Jonnu but others. Um this a big camp for Roman Wilson for example. He’s a secondyear player. I know he played little if any uh last year, but the expectations of a secondyear player are the same. He showed up highly conditioned and he’s had a really good off seasonason. And so I don’t know that I come in with any level of anticipation of who specifically is going to do what in regards to the questions that you asked, but more about just rolling that ball out and beginning this process and see who has evolved or who is evolving. Couple more. Mike, what adjustments did you make to the conditioning test this year? You know, I don’t know that we made any adjustments. I just did what I thought was appropriate uh for this group this year. Um the group was highly conditioned in the spring and displayed that um at weigh-ins. I think the weight the weights reflected their overall readiness and so from my perspective it was just a box to check and now we’re on to football. One more here. In the Rogers process, at what point were you pretty comfortable he was coming? And did you ever waver from that and get a little worried? I probably was pretty comfortable well before you guys, you know. Um, and no, I did not waver from that. All right. Thank you. Thank you guys.

Coach Mike Tomlin speaks to the media on Wednesday, July 23 as the team reports to training camp

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