Mike Tomlin appeared on ESPN Monday morning, mostly in defense of Mason Rudolph, who was recently accused by Myles Garrett — again — of using a racial slur during their infamous brawl during Week 11 of the 2019 NFL regular season.
“I took offense to it to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “We were hacked off with what we saw this weekend.
“When it first transpired during the season, we don’t have a lot of time to pause and fight battles of that nature. We said our piece, we were completely cooperative with all parties involved, the Cleveland Browns and the National Football League office. Then, we had to move on, we had another game awaiting us. But when these allegations returned this past weekend, I thought it was appropriate that Mason is properly defended.”
While the interview mostly centered around that situation, Tomlin also addressed Antonio Brown.
While Stephen A. Smith framed his question for approximately 20 seconds, Tomlin nodded, smiled and even chuckled. Then came the big question:
"Would you and the Steelers consider bringing Antonio Brown back in light of the mea culpas or the contrition that he has displayed?"
Tomlin responded:
"I'll say this: Once a Steeler, always a Steeler," Tomlin began. "We had great success over the course of nine-plus years with Antonio. We're always going to be interested in his growth and development as a man, and we'll be open to assisting him in that."
Wait, is he really going where it seems like he's going?
"But we have no current business interest at this time."
Oh. That makes more sense. The thought of Brown coming back to the Steelers is preposterous, and while Tomlin clearly said he and the Steelers would be there to help him as a man, finishing with "no current business interest" pretty much shuts the book on a fairy tale reunion between the two sides.
As expected, Tomlin and the Steelers aren't interested in it — a totally reasonable standpoint, no matter how much the team could use his talents on the field.
Watch Tomlin's full interview with ESPN right here:
