• Opening statement:
"We had a season of ups and downs, some positives and negatives that we have to consider as we get ready for the offseason. Our rookie class was certainly one of the positives that we think we can take away from the season and build on. Omar [Khan], Andy [Weidl] and their team are already working hard on making sure we're ready to bring in another good group from this year's draft. A lot of work to be done there.
"In terms of the next step, we need to do everything we can to make sure we get quality play out of our quarterback position going forward. We still feel good about Kenny Pickett and his future, but he knows he needs to work hard to take the next step. We've talked about that. One of the things we liked about Kenny, in terms of his career at Pitt, was how hard he worked and he took a step every year. So, we're looking for that to happen here. Mason Rudolph came in and showed what we're capable of when we do get quality play at the quarterback position. We appreciate what Mason did, and we're interested in bringing Mason back. I think we have two high-performing running backs in Najee [Harris] and Jaylen [Warren]. They, along with an improving offensive line, can be the foundation of success going forward. Certainly some positives there that, as the season wore on, I think we saw what they can be.
"As you all know, Mike [Tomlin] is in the process of hiring a new offensive coordinator. So, we’ll have some changes on the staff on the offensive side. We’re looking forward to have someone come in and take a fresh approach who can help our young players grow and perform, and have the offense perform at a consistently high level. On the defensive side, I don't like to make excuses, but we got hit with a rash of injuries that at times was difficult to overcome. All things considered, I thought our coaches did a good job for plugging in guys who — I needed a program to figure out who they were on Sunday sometimes. So, it was a little crazy at times on that side. But, the bottom line is I think we have a core group of solid players on the defensive side that we can build on and win with. All in all, I like the way our guys kept fighting to get a playoff spot. I think there's a lot we can build on moving forward. We need to find ways to make sure we're better next season. That's what we're about at this point."
• Is Kenny Pickett still the guy?
"We still feel good about Kenny and where he can go. Obviously he does need to take another step, and that's an important component of the next coordinator, making sure he helps Kenny take the next step. We still feel comfortable with Kenny, but with that being said, you can’t discount what Mason did and you can’t discount the fact that having competition will be good for everybody. I think Mike feels that way, and we all feel that way. I'd say there's still more to come to see who's in the quarterback room when we start camp this summer."
• What qualities are you looking for in an offensive coordinator?
"Number one, to be clear, it's Mike's hire. Head coaches hire their coordinators. I think be a mistake for me to try to screw up the lines of authority, let's say, in terms of how things are supposed to work. That being said, Mike and I talk every day, Omar [Khan] talks every day, sharing ideas, but that's gotta be Mike's hire. I think Mike identified we want somebody that has some experience and somebody that has a track record that we can look at and feel comfortable with. Those are the things that Mike is looking for."
• Did Mason Rudolph get overlooked?
"It's hard to say whether he would have had the same results if he started the whole season. I mean, this wasn't the first season he played for us. Overall, I think Mason's results as a starting quarterback in this league have been positive, for the most part. We know that, and we know that going forward. That's one of the reasons why we want to have him back. Whether he should have played more prior to this, I'm not gonna speculate on that at this point."
• Do you feel your team is closer to contending than it was a year ago?
"I think it's fair to say that I do feel that we're closer this year at this stage of the game than we were at this point last year. As I mentioned, I thought we had a really solid rookie class and a few guys that really stepped in and are solid starters for the future. We need to need to do that again. We need to have another good draft class. But yeah, I think we have a core group of players that -- we can compete with this group. And as I said, I think the biggest thing we need is quality play at the quarterback position."
• Seven years without a playoff win. Is there an urgency to win?
"Yeah, I think there's an urgency. I think everybody, from myself to Mike to guys that have been on the team for a while -- T.J. [Watt], Cam [Heyward], everybody -- we've had enough of this. It’s time to get some wins. It’s time to take these next steps. I think there's some urgency here for sure."
• Given that playoff drought, why is Tomlin still the right guy?
"I think the players still respond to Mike, and that's number one. He still has the key characteristics that we saw when we hired him. He can keep the attention of a group of 20-year-olds for a whole season and keep them in the fight for the whole way. I still feel good about Mike. Obviously if I didn't, we’d make a change. But, if we didn't think Mike was able to lead us to a championship, he wouldn't be here. That's why he's here."
• What's the timeline on an extension for Tomlin?
"It'll be done when it gets done. Those things are hard to speculate how long it'll take. At this point, I don't see it getting done before the coordinator’s hired. I think that's gonna happen sooner rather than later."
• Historically, at least up until this cycle, your extension came with Mike with two years left. This time you didn't do that. Was there any particular reason?
"No, no particular reason."
• Art, we're seeing stadiums that are in the age range of Acrisure Stadium getting upgraded, getting expanded. Have you had any talks even within your own company about thinking about the future of the facility?
"We are. We are going through a stadium assessment at this point and really looking at what it's gonna take to be in the stadium for the next 10-20 years, whatever it's gonna be. It's a process. We’ve hired some consultants to help us look at it. We like the stadium. We think it's a great facility and, with the right kinds of improvements, can continue to be our home for a long time."
• Got a dome handy anywhere?
"Probably not gonna be a dome anytime soon. (laughs) No, I don't see that happening here."
• At his last press conference, Tomlin seemed to be humbled and more determined. Have you noticed a change in him and his resolve of late?
"I'm not sure I'd say a change. Certainly there's a resolve there and a determination there. As I said before, I think all of us that have been around for a little while, we're anxious to take this next step. Getting a little impatient. We need to see the kind of improvement we all want to see. And Mike believes that as firmly as anybody else in the building."
• What's the timeline on the offensive coordinator search? How tricky is it when there's teams still playing?
"It definitely gets tricky with all the various scenarios you mentioned. We've interviewed three great guys so far. We're deciding where we go from here. Mike and Omar will be in Mobile for a few days and they, you know, they may get a chance to talk to some people down there. But I feel good that it'll get wrapped up sooner rather than later."
• The decision to part ways with Matt Canada was something this organization doesn't typically do. How tough was that decision and what did you learn from that entire process that can help you moving forward?
"It's not something that you want to do or like to do. Mike made the decision that it was time to make a change. Those kinds of things are not what you hope for when you start a season. I'm not sure what we learned from it, other than saying we don't want to have to do that again. So, this is an important hire to get the right person in there to help this offense take the next steps."
• Do you think the change hurt Kenny's development?
"It's not something you want to do for that reason. Continuity is important. When you start a season with one coordinator, you know, there's a lot that kind of gets put in place. It is hard to make a change in midseason. That's why it's rarely done. That’s why we rarely do it. It probably didn’t help him to make the change then."
• What does you like about Pickett’s game and where does he need to improve?
"The things about Kenny that we’ve always liked were his toughness, his competitiveness, his desire to be a winner. He has all of those kinds of intangibles. And so what I think we need him to be is to continue to develop to be a quarterback that can read a defense quickly and get the offense into the best play for a given situation when he comes out of the huddle. He’s learned and has got some experience with that and he’ll continue to work on that."
• Is it easier for a quarterback to develop the on-field traits versus developing intangibles?
"I think the on-the-field learning is something that you can expect progress from more so than intangibles. Intangibles, you either have them or you don't. And so his ability to develop, to be able to see the field and read defenses quickly, those are things you can develop with experience and I think you look around the league and you see that happening with young quarterbacks. First couple years they’re kind of finding their way and all of the sudden, third or fourth year, it clicks. That’s what you need to see."
• How did you feel, overall, about the last four games with respect to the quarterback play?
"As you know we had a three-game losing streak that was tough to swallow for everybody. To come back and say, 'Hey, we’re not out of this thing. We’re still going to fight, we still got a chance.' Turning the kind of performances we did those last three games and even going to Buffalo I felt good about the approach the guys had. They were going up there and trying to win that game, so it was the way the team came together, the overall psyche of the team was what you hope for. They were in the fight."
• Do you have an idea of what you want within the offensive coordinator search?
"I think we have an idea of what we want the Steeler offense to look like. Let’s start with that. And we have a certain roster mix that leads to -- you can’t completely change your roster overnight so you kind of have to have a coordinator that feels like they can work with this roster and be successful with it. Somebody that believes in that and comes in and can work with this roster, do what’s kind of already built here in terms of the roster and some of the skillsets that we have, I think that’s kind of what we’re looking go."
• What is desirable about the Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay coaching trees?
"It’s a successful system. No two ways about it. Those guys have had a lot of success and their approach to offensive football’s been pretty impressive. It’s not that I’m not going to say we’re only going to talk to people that come off of the tree, but certainly worth talking to those guys."
• How does you express patience in interviewing offensive coordinator candidates now versus waiting for the Super Bowl to happen?
"As we talked about before, it is a complicated set of scenarios you deal with this time of year where people are interviewing with various teams. And so I think we’re doing our best to identify guys that -- we’re not wasting each other’s time when we’re having an interview and I think we’ll get there. I think there are enough good candidates out here that we’ll find one."
• How do you assess the job Omar Khan has done?
"I think Omar and his team, they’ve done a good job. Number one, obviously, I think we had a good draft last year and found some key players that, hopefully, they’ll be in key spots for us for a long time to come. And then I think one of the things I was impressed with this year was the ongoing roster management. Some of it was forced on us, injuries and things that those guys had to manage their way through and find a guy to plug in that could help us win. It was an ongoing challenge this year and I think they did a good job with it."
• How much player feedback are you looking for when it comes to facility upgrades?
"I haven’t met too many players that are architects yet, so we’re not opposed to player feedback but we do look at -- what are the benchmarks around the country? What do players need to be successful these days? To be honest with you we’re not as deep into the assessment of this facility as we are into the stadium. But that will come. We still have, I think, it’s six or seven years left on our lease here. We’ll work with UPMC and try to start to see where we go here. Still a ways to go, I think, to get into this facility in a big way."
• Have you gotten feedback from players on things they’d like to see as far as family support?
"Yeah. We’ve talked to players about post-game, family rooms, things like that. We’ve gotten input from them on all of that stuff."
• Is the team at the level you want it to be? What’s the next level?
"I think it’s certainly one of the things you could say I feel better about it now than I did a year ago or even two years ago. I feel really good about having a two-headed monster, if you will, at running back. Two different styles of running back and both are very capable and, really, like I said before, I think if we can provide the right offensive line, we can provide a real foundation for success going forward."
• Do you need to continue to add to the offensive line?
"I think we need to be better on the offensive line. Those guys got better as the season went on so there’s no denying that. We’ll assess where we are and if there’s places where we can make improvements, we will."
• Is Mason Rudolph’s improvement in a small sample size is just that, or can he take off from where he was?
"I think Mason really showed -- number one, I think he did show what we’re capable of on offense and the personnel that we have here right now. That’s encouraging in terms of Mason’s ceiling, let’s say. I don’t know that we’ve seen his ceiling yet. We drafted him high for a reason and it felt like he had a lot of ability, so I think we saw that. He’s probably going to have some options (in free agency) so it's going to be a question of whether he wants to come back and whether we can make a deal to get him back. That being said, still feel good about Kenny and his ability to develop, as well."
• You’re facing a salary-cap situation with Cam Heyward. Do you have to make a change there, rework that contract, or can they re-work his last year?
"I don’t know it would be fair to Cam for me to say too much about it at this stage of the game. Obviously those are things we’ll get into once we get deeper into the offseason. I’ll just say this. We want Cam on our team this year and maybe going forward. He’s as solid of an individual in the locker room as you could ever want and that’s valuable to us. Unfortunately he had some injuries to overcome this year and hopefully he gets healthy and can come back really strong next year."
• How do you view the discipline of this roster and what are the things that need to evolve from that standpoint?
"You know, I think this is the time of year where coach talks to the players and does exit interviews and gets that kind of feedback. I’d probably rather have that feedback come to the coach than you guys, to be honest. But all in all, we won 10 games, made the playoffs. There were some ups and downs. We have some players that can grow. Like a lot of teams we have players that need to grow. So that’s all part of it. I think Mike, certainly, is capable of handing that side of the house for us."
• What goes into the decision to potentially expand the coaching staff?
"I think you look at what’s going on around the league and -- who do we need to be competitive in this league? Whether that’s numbers or individuals, I think those are the kinds of things that are under discussion at this point."
• Is there an update on the bid to bring the NFL Draft to Pittsburgh?
"We’re, I would say, deep in the process of preparing the bid to bring the draft to Pittsburgh. I think we’re optimistic that we’ll bring it here in the not-too-distant future."
• How does the playoff drought impact the terms of the contract extension that Tomlin’s expected to sign in the offseason?
"I can’t get into that. We’ll get into the discussion with his representatives. As we get to that opportunity that’s a discussion we’ll have inside."
