Coach Mike Tomlin Press Conference (July 26) | Pittsburgh Steelers

man we're really excited to be here it's awesome to get started uh let's talk about some observations um i just told the team i was really excited about a couple minor yet important things that i saw to this point number one everyone was on time number two everybody was appropriately appropriately conditioned and i think those two things although minor are significant in terms of uh people displaying a willingness to contribute to what it is that we're doing here uh to develop individually and to develop collectively to divide the labor and grow it starts there in order to get the train out of the station some some fundamental things some base things have to happen and i like what i've seen from the group to this point in terms of their overall readiness in that regard and so now we take off a few health related things minka will be placed on nfi he sustained a wrist injury on vacation i think he fell off a bike it'll create some short-term discomfort um but i don't expect it to be an issue um in overall trajectory of his development and his place of within this group and and um stadium availability and things of that nature um it's just going to create some some discomfort for him at the early stages of this tyson the louis lou has been placed on pup he has a knee that's been swelling on him a little bit probably from over training similar discussion as mika we don't expect it to be significant from a long-term perspective but it will create um some discomfort here at the early stages we'll monitor those guys there's some other guys with minor things that we'll manage from a rep standpoint but it won't um affect their designation in terms of participation and so that being said i'll pause and open it up for questions mike was larry hogan joby get a clean bill of health and be able to do everything as you guys know he's coming off surgery we exercise precaution because he's new here and new to us and so as we get to know him we're going to proceed with caution so we get a better understanding of how his body works so that we take no steps backwards as we proceed so i wouldn't read too much into his lack of participation is really more of just to get to know the vase okay do you see him as a nose we can help you out at end or do you like him on the end with tyson when he gets healthy playing the nose i like him in both spots um but what we're talking about probably is 18 of our snaps you know in today's nfl man you spent so much time in sub package ball that we hadn't wasted a lot of time talking about the oaky or the base component of it because so little time is spent there but there aren't any reservations in terms of his skill set that would limit him in terms of playing either position but he's basically a sub package inside russia absolutely absolutely how does the jerry mcnichols fit into the running back we'll see um he's a guy that has an nfl resume we've been in some stadiums with him in the past we know that he's capable you know he and others will be given an opportunity to kind of define their roles and and divide the labor up as we we get into it but we're happy that he's he's with us the same to start camp as it was over the summer it was and i'll say this because i understand that that's the elephant in the room um we're not going to micromanage or over manage this quarterback competition the depth chart will not rest on every throw i know that you guys will want to ask me every day and every throw but we're going to be a little bit more steady than that i think it's important from a leadership perspective to to to to not over manage it to not be uh too impulsive and and so that's what i've relayed to those guys and and our actions will continue to display that mindset put inside the depth chart just what do you want to see out of kenny pickett in terms of being a rookie at that position like in his first camp is there anything off the field leadership whatever intangible wise you want to see the room i'm not overly concerned about that narrative i think that you know when you're 22 23 24 years old you've been playing quarterback all your life you understand those informal responsibilities that come with the position i'm more concerned about tangible things accuracy taking care of the ball and things of that nature i don't have any level of concern about about those things being in his wheelhouse i watched him do it next door in terms of leading his guys and being what what we need quarterbacks to be i don't think that's going to be a significant discussion you talked about najib taking on a greater leadership role when you were on the pivot podcast earlier this summer how does he increase that beginning in this training camp he doesn't have to do anything but be himself i i think that that's an important component of leadership i don't ask people to be something that they're not it is naturally in his wheelhouse it is something that just oozes off of him and so it's just about he and us cultivating that and and and using that for our collective good mike you've talked about the value of being here at st vincent college before you guys haven't had that for a few years have you talked to guys who the few guys you have who've been here before for you guys about you know kind of maybe setting a tone or helping the guys adjust who haven't been here before i hadn't specifically um but the guys that you mentioned that fall into that category i talked to them about a lot of things in terms of setting the tone and providing leadership and so those conversations are ongoing and continuous and they hadn't happened specifically as it pertains to this location mike on that pivot podcast that got a lot of mileage locally boiled not haven't been down too scary but exciting can you elaborate on both of those no i meant what i said you know it's scary because it's the unknown you know we're mentioning to a territory that we haven't been here in a long time from a quarterback perspective at least for me personally obviously i've always uh done the job with him but exciting also just because from a competitor's standpoint you embrace challenges um and and you're excited about the anxiety associated with that uncertainty and so i thought i was pretty clear on that i didn't think it needed any elaboration mike you guys had success the last couple years even though you had to start the season you know back in pittsburgh what is it about this place what does this place provide that that training there does not it's the opportunity to capture the intangible that which we cannot measure on the informal time that that going away to camp provides you those moments where where veteran guy gets a chance to spend time with young guy on the stoop out back at night or in between meetings or after dinner i just think there's value in that there's growth there's collective growth in that and i'm excited about um what this environment provides us in in from that perspective and and and although you can't measure it um you acknowledge that it exists and you acknowledge that it exists by working at it and so that's what i'm challenging the team to do to give themselves their time their space their knowledge their experience while we're here formally and informally michael all the turnover this past year coaching staff front office even player may be more than normal is that labeled under the exciting part for you or you have a little trepidation about that as well i don't worry about turnover turnover and transition is a component of our game at this level there's turnover every year and so i hadn't spent a lot of time focused on that component of it each year we start anew we assume nothing and we acknowledge that there's some people on this journey that hadn't been a part of past journeys and so you better not be too presumptuous about shared experiences other than quarterback what uh position competitions that start tomorrow kind of stand out to you and all of them um i try to maintain an open mind in an effort to not miss an opportunity to get better or acknowledge something that's happening in front of us talking about the quarterbacks how do you anticipate being able to share reps with three guys and can that be a challenge i'm not overly concerned about it um i think about every year we've been here we've carried four guys into camp and there's been some rep management things to to address from that perspective um we got four quarterbacks we generally run in three groups and so there's some things that manage from a rep standpoint but again that has been the case for the 15 years or 16 years that i've been here coach any objectives that you have or any expectations that you have for vinnie smith and anthony farmer no much much like we were talking about jeremy they'll be given an opportunity to carve out their roles we acknowledge some of the things that they've done in the past positively negatively build on the positive minimize the negative we'll see what what this journey and this process of development holds for for those men you have to remind some of the younger guys that super bowl is the goal or do you anticipate them already knowing that i don't imagine that i would have to remind them but i do anyway didn't notice deontay johnson during move-ins did he report today oh yeah oh yeah is he gonna rap like normal like tj and lincoln i'm not proceeding with any anticipation of of any of those type of things man he was here on time and did a heck of a job at the conditioning test like everyone else and so we keep moving forward like you said about naji do you see that leadership role in deontay i do i do and and not for the first time i thought he exhibited growth in that area significantly a year ago mike what is it about najee uh at such a young age that you feel that he could be a leader it's just him um you know it's in his personality i imagine he's been that on every team he's ever been on in his lifetime and so it is a natural act for him and and so it's just something that you recognize um and you cultivate it's not something that's that's mandatory in all individuals it's a team um it's appropriate that you have enough of them um but it's not something that's mandatory per individuals says that he's not a vocal leader when he categorizes his leadership style what kind of leader do you think he is he's vocal he's just selectively vocal in your offense one of the most important attributes for a slot receiver and you have that guy obviously on your roster i think in today's game slot receiver play requires different skill sets depending on what it is that you're doing uh you're stretching the field vertically it might require a certain skill set you're working underneath and against zones that might require certain cir skill set either playing against man-to-man it might require another skill set i think that's why increasingly slow so you see so many people in today's game playing inside years ago there was a designated slot guy and that was the only guy that played in there at the early stages of my career here very rarely did you see anyone playing there besides heinz ward for example in today's game based on schematics and matchups and so forth you see people moving in and out of the slot the slot position all the time and so i just think that's the nature of that discussion in today's game not only with us but also the other 31 teams going back to logan joby for a second you guys have a little bit of a history with him was there any sort of consideration given to that before the move or very little none mike chase uh chase claypool today said that he was naive in the past with the way that he prepared for the season have you seen a more mature player coming into i think he'll write that story i think we just got here a couple hours ago i could be you know i can't give you an answer to that we just had a conditioning test at four o'clock uh i think that'll continually be revealed mike how much you looking forward to getting in the room during game week with ryan and terrell and trying to get a game plan together we've got three pretty established defensive coaches throwing some ideas around man i'm always excited about the planned developmental process whether it's defense offense or special teams i feel good about the staff that we've assembled um but we'll have an opportunity to to to you know live up to those expectations you always talk about advancement from year one to year two or two to three your two year offensive linemen were pretty much thrown in there how much do you think that will help them i expect it to be significant not only because of what i've seen from them but also what experience in this environment environment has showed me years ago man we had young guys like pouncy and dicastro they had some on the job training and i saw a significant jump in that group um this is a different group and so i think it's reasonable to expect those guys to to to be much better and to grow but based on their talents and their experience we heard from a lot of them who felt like james daniels was already stepping into a leadership role for the offensive line what have you seen from him in your time with him so far i don't know that we've been in enough challenging circumstance for that to reveal itself i'd imagine they were just trying to answer questions at that point of team development like any o-line position changes coming out of the spring we'll see you know um in the spring we're just teaching and learning um and and getting to know and things of that nature so we hadn't made any changes or depth chart positioning based on what has transpired uh in the spring we mean what we say in that regard uh but now the competition and the evaluations begin could you give us a ben camp story when you think about roethlisberger all the camps what you're one of your funnest fondest members i enjoyed going by ben's room you know ben is one of those guys man that brought the comforts of home to latrobe i mean he spared no expense man or amenity um i walked in that room today and i laughed because cam hayward is in that room now um but it's less is less comfortable i'll say that cam is somewhat of a caveman couple more mike ben recently made some comments about me first attitudes kind of maybe maybe being a reason for playoff failures of the team what are your thoughts on that i mean is that a growing problem that has to be i have no comment regarding that um i didn't read it or hear it and i hadn't talked to him regarding it and so those are his opinions i have no color to add to that or expand expand upon that it's just fruitless mike you have three capable guys the cornerback that can start outside how do you adjust those snaps does somebody maybe move inside of you it's to be determined i'm excited about that but i'm excited about a lot of things i like our inside linebacker uh rotation that has a lot of capable men and and i think that's why we're here um with each passing day with each passing rep we're going to gain clarity about some of those type questions mike there seems always been a familiarity with like the form of offense that you guys ran with ben roethlisberger because he was here for so long not only he's gone but you have mad canada what's like that the challenge like for these guys to not only figure out who they are but figure out what this entire offense is going to be i don't know that we're any different as we sit here today in that regard i think every year you come with with those questions um what are we how do we play to our strengths how do we work to minimize our weaknesses what are the schematic things that we value and how do we display that um in our plan and in our actions and so although there may be some variables that are different this year i think we ask those questions annually individually and collectively as we step into environments such as this one more mike you talked about your appreciation for camp in this setting is that something you developed here previously in your career and where did that come from man i had that mindset in 1979 man when i was putting my my mouthpiece man in the boiling water you know getting ready for you football you know um i just love it i always have since i was seven years old man i've been a part of a football team and this time of year means something and and those of us that been in this thing in any capacity in any role um we like that feeling we understand what that feeling is and so um when i lack that excitement man that's probably when it's time for me to move on to something else i didn't boil a mouthpiece today but but i'm ready nonetheless all right awesome thank you guys

Channel: Pittsburgh Steelers

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Keywords: pittsburgh steelers news, steelers 2022, 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2022 steelers, steelers interview, steelers, steelers news, 2022 NFL, steelers live, live video, nfl steelers, nfl, american football, pittsburgh, nfl 2022, 2022 nfl, Offseason, Press Conference, pittsburgh steelers, NFL 2022, 2022 Steelers, steelers press conference, nfl sound, player press conference, press conference, media avail, Mike Tomlin, Coach Tomlin, Coach Mike Tomlin, Tomlin press conference

Id: DRwSn77rvZc

Length: 16min 31sec (991 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 26 2022

Reddit Comments

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