The wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round.
On Monday at the NFL‘s Annual League Meeting, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin shed light on his six hour meeting with Aaron Rodgers that took place in the Steel City two weeks ago.
X/@MikeDeFaboTomlin spoke to the media on Monday morning on all things, including the Steelers question mark at quarterback[/caption]
“We had a really productive day,” Tomlin said.
“He’s been in this thing a long time. I’ve been in this thing a long time.
“But there’s no substitute for intimacy and spending time together and getting to know one another in a non-competitive environment.
“So, that was really good. But I don’t have any new updates in terms of where the process is.
“We’ll see where it leads us.”
Rodgers is still without a home, and the Steelers are still without a legitimate option at quarterback.
They brought Mason Rudolph last week, but he is by no means the answer to their QB1 quandary.
And while Rodgers of course wouldn’t be the longterm solution in Pittsburgh, he would at least provide an answer in the immediate future, and raise the floor of the team much higher than Rudolph could.
While the questions and speculation surrounding Rodgers and the Steelers, Tomlin said he isn’t bothered with where they are currently at.
“I’m really comfortable with being unsettled at this time of year, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said.
X/@MARKKABOLYTomlin didn’t shy away from any questions regarding his team’s status at quarterback[/caption]
“It’s about talent acquisition.
“We’ve got two main means of acquiring talent — free agency and the draft. We multitask. We do both.
“Those needs that we fulfill in free agency, we do so there, and when we don’t, we fulfill it in the draft.
“I just learned over the years that this time of the year, although day to day it could be somewhat uncomfortable, it is a process.”
Tomlin is clearly fine with how the process is playing out, even if Steelers fans and those around the organization may not be.
He is right though, that it is a process.
And Rodgers has decided to drag out the process until the very last second it seems.
And one man in particular, ESPN’s Adam Schefter, is over it.
Schefter isn’t even sure Rodgers wants to keep playing.
“Until I hear him say, ‘I want to play,’ then I can tell you people are asking that question about whether he wants to play,” Schefter said on ESPN Milwaukee.
“It’s come up. I’m hearing he might not want to play.
“Which by the way, again, I don’t want to speak for him because I don’t want to get called out.
“We’re speculating, but it shouldn’t be that hard. Either you want to play for the Steelers or you don’t. What are we waiting for?
“I don’t see too many free agents who go visit a team for six hours, think about something…
“What’s the question? What’s the issue? They want you, you don’t want them?
“Clearly you have questions.
“I don’t know if that’s playing for that team, living in that city, playing football in general, there’s something that’s holding you back, because they want him.”
Whether or not Rodgers ends up in Pittsburgh remains to be seen, but Tomlin won’t be bothered either way.
And that’s Mike Tomlin in a nutshell.
Rarely bothered.
Stay up to date with the latest from across the NFL via our talkSPORT Facebook page, and subscribe to our Endzone YouTube channel for news, view and exclusive interviews as we build up to the NFL Draft in April
