Mike Tomlin made clear the Steelers' 2024 season will be one of significant change, this amid in a 33-minute press conference Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
He wants a new offensive coordinator from the outside.
He wants Mason Rudolph back, with a chance to start.
And he wants Kenny Pickett to show he deserves to keep his starting status:
"I feel stronger about some of the intangible things than I did when we first started doing business with him because I have evidence of it," Tomlin said of Pickett Thursday. "He's highly competitive and professional. He doesn't run from challenges; he runs to challenges. I think that's evident in the way he plays particularly at the end of close football games. He's got good framework to work with and for a young guy he's mature beyond his years. I'm excited about him.
"... Certainly it's a big year for him. We met this morning and we acknowledged that. It is a huge year for him. But I'm also about watching him wear that component of it because I know how he's wired and built and I'm excited about watching him attack it."
Pickett was supplanted by Rudolph for the remaining three games of the regular season, including two in which Pickett claimed he was healthy enough to play despite spraining his ankle weeks prior. Rudolph's performance ranked among the best in the NFL in that 3-0 span and helped the Steelers to a 10-7 finish and a berth in the AFC playoffs.
"I don't think any of us can deny what we've seen over the last month or so," Tomlin said of Rudolph. "I cannot underscore how impressive it is to be ready. Forget performance -- to be ready to deliver. He was, and that preparedness showed. Certainly we're less speculative of his capabilities because there's evidence of it and evidence of it in tough circumstances."
The NFL offseason is an onion with many layers. Tomlin would be the outer layer of that large onion, and peeling it back will reveal two major decisions to be made.
One, he has to hire a new offensive coordinator. He said Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan aren't being considered for the post "at this juncture," and he is lining up candidates from the outside to replace them. The hire, he said, will be done by a collaborative of Art Rooney II, Omar Khan and himself. He also considered getting the best out of his quarterback as a "significant component" of his offensive coordinator search, which could also factor in his affirmation of the former first-round pick.
"I want us to be versatile and dynamic," Tomlin said. "Obviously we've got to score more points. I want to be able to keep defenses off balance. I want to utilize all talents that we have at our disposal. I'm excited about this process and the talent pool out there based on what I've seen thus far. I'm really open to learning through this process and seeing what other people have to say about their visions and so, certainly have a vision of what it looks like but certainly open to learning through this process."
The second major decision to make moving forward, among many more, is determining who is quarterback will be. As of this stage, Pickett is a candidate for that starting job, but perhaps one made less than rock-solid based on Rudolph's performances to close the season.
Those decisions and developments will happen over time, and the decision made by Rudolph in free agency in March will be a large one, whether he stays or leaves.
The certainty of it all -- with respect to these decisions -- within these walls on the South Side is that Tomlin will be the one making them.
The sting from Monday's loss to the Bills to open the AFC playoffs still sits within him. He wants nothing more than to be preparing to face the Ravens in the AFC Divisional playoff this weekend. But, for the sixth straight year, the Steelers won't be playing past wild-card weekend and instead will shift focus on the next season.
That's where Tomlin turns the page with respect to his team and his self:
"It comes to a screeching halt," Tomlin said of moving past the 2023 season. "I don't know that you have an option. Sometimes I don't want to move past it. Sometimes I just want to be here for a minute in an effort to improve. That's probably where I am, honestly, as I stand here today."
The work begins to turn the page to a brighter outcome in 2024, beginning with the determination of his quarterback and new offensive coordinator.
There is also the component of Tomlin's status that had to be addressed.
Tomlin's current contract expires after the 2024 season concludes, which fueled speculation dating to training camp this past August of whether he would work out an extension with Rooney to remain in Pittsburgh beyond that. Some reports from the outside in recent months have indicated otherwise. Those have noted that the Steelers could trade Tomlin to acquire more draft capital or that Tomlin could take time this offseason to mull his next step, which could include stepping away from football altogether for a finite amount of time.
Those reports forgot to account for how much Tomlin still loves all of this. His love, passion and desire for football was re-affirmed in a candid, honest and pure way within those 33 minutes at the lectern Thursday.
"It's probably intensified, to be quite honest with you," he said. "I just see things with greater clarity through experience, and so it's probably intensified ... You guys are probably better equipped to understand origins of some of that stuff than I am, to be quite honest with you. I understand speculation is a component of what it is that we do. I try not to get caught up in it or distracted by it, particularly when it's not where I'm at. That's been my mindset regarding it."
The first step within all of that could be a contract extension. As he said Thursday, it will get done "when it gets done."
"Yes, I expect to be back, and I imagine that those contract things are going to run their course," Tomlin said. "Art and I have a really good, transparent relationship. We communicate continually, often. I don't imagine it's going to be an issue and I imagine it's going to get done in a timely manner, in an appropriate time. But my mindset is to coach this football team, certainly."
That all stems from one topic: He, still, loves coming to work every day.
"My card key works," he said. "I'm going to keep doing so. I don't spend a lot of time on the big-picture perspective. I just don't. ... Security is cool but it's not a top priority for me. I've seen a lot. I'm not job scared. But it does provide less questions and things of that nature."
