Mike Tomlin would typically be commenting around this time of year how he doesn't put too much thought into what happens in "football in shorts," what he calls offseason workouts.
This year, Tomlin would be happy to see a little football in shorts. Heck, the Steelers' head coach will be happy when he gets to see any football again.
With things shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak, the NFL has forced its teams to close down its practice facilities. And they won't open again until all teams can return in order to keep a competitive balance across the league.
That means teams are limited to holding meetings virtually, something the Steelers have been doing. The Steelers have been holding a virtual rookie minicamp this weekend to help get their rookie class acclimated to life in the NFL -- at least as much as they can.
Friday, that meant Tomlin had recently retired guard Ramon Foster, a new contributor for DKPittsburghSports.com, address the team's rookie class.
"We were excited about that, and Ramon delivered in a big way," Tomlin said Saturday. "I thought he was a great guy to welcome those guys, a guy that understands the journey that many of those guys are attempting to walk. He’s a guy who was an undrafted guy and went on to have a great career that lasted over a decade and was just a well-respected professional and a recently retired professional. He’s very fresh to getting off the field. I thought the perspective he had would be a good one. I thought he did an awesome job."
Foster, of course, recently retired following an 11-year career with the Steelers after initially making the team as an undrafted rookie in 2009.
It's all part of letting the rookies know what is in store for them as new professional football players. To that end, part of the day was spent Saturday introducing the young players to the Steelers' support staff and letting them know what each of those individuals does and where they are located in the Rooney Sports Complex.
As for football itself, that will continue to be a work in progress.
"We’re not in the evaluation stage," Tomlin said. "We’re in a teaching and instructing stage right now, and we will be in that until we get into a football-type environment and a training camp-like setting and we’re playing a game. All the things we’re doing for them right now is preparing them for that."
