Mike Tomlin uses recent injury calamity to detail importance of rookie minicamp

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has seen plenty different injury calamities over his 15-year tenure in the NFL, which has led him to prepare for everything. As rookie minicamps signal the start of the 2022 season, he is already looking to plug potentials holes that a variety of circumstances could create.

During a media session at rookie minicamp, Mike Tomlin spoke about the importance of using the event to build the roster and pointed to one recent injury calamity which was remedied by proactive thinking.

“We’re really excited about the work that’s being done here,” said Tomlin. “It’s introductory weekend. It’s an opportunity to kind of get to know them, for them to get to know us. The things we’re trying to build here environmentally, the culture. Familiarize ourselves with our draft picks and our rookie free agents. But also, it’s a rookie tryout weekend. So we’re really watching a lot of guys who are putting their best foot forward in an effort to maybe launch their NFL careers. And so we’re excited about that as well.

“A number of years ago we had a guy, Duck Hodges, out here. We didn’t know that he would start some games for us at quarterback for example. So you work out here in these circumstances with an edge. You really respect all the participants, you look at what they have to offer, you forecast maybe how they could get better here in the next few months. And then you make the necessary decisions. So we’re very much in the midst of that, it’s been a highly productive weekend and we expect it to continue as we continue to press forward.”

After Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph were ruled out, the Steelers had to turn to the Samford graduate for six starts in the 2019 season and managed to go 3-3 in those games.

Mike Tomlin on rookie minicamp

It does not take much more than football itself to get Mike Tomlin excited, and that’s part of why he enjoys the rookie minicamp so much. He spoke about what the event represents for the players, the staff and the season moving forward.

“Man, it’s the beginning,” said Tomlin. “It’s the beginning for them, it’s the beginning for us. It’s the first exposure for them, it’s a dry run for us from a coach’s perspective. We’ve got a finite amount of material and given a finite amount of time to present it. Just the vocational aspect of lesson planning and so forth, We’re all here to get better and to set the very beginning stages of team development.

“So there is some excitement, some anxiety, an edge with the beginning process.”