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Speaker 1: The NFL's annual meetings are underway in Orlando, and the Yields,

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Speaker 1: of course, have a lot to talk about. But the

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Speaker 1: biggest story for them, both locally and nationally, the changes

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Speaker 1: in their quarterback room that have happened recently here in

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Speaker 1: the off season, a topic Mike tom Went addressed with

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Speaker 1: media from around the country.

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Speaker 2: You know, when the free agency process began, we only

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Speaker 2: had one quarterback on our roster. Obviously when we got

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Speaker 2: into it, after he got permission to talk to other

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Speaker 2: teams from Denver, the conversations were very fluid and natural.

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Speaker 2: He did his appropriate research on us, and I think

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Speaker 2: that that's probably was one of the more impressive things

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Speaker 2: about the process from my perspective, his level of preparedness

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Speaker 2: in terms of knowing us and who we are and

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Speaker 2: how he might potentially fit. Just really putting ease over

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Speaker 2: the process. Obviously, you know, we anticipated it to be

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Speaker 2: in a competitive market. I think he went to New

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Speaker 2: York prior to coming in our place, and so we're

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Speaker 2: pleased that it was able to come together.

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Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin described Russell Wilson as driven and says that

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Speaker 1: Wilson has the pole position to be the Steelers starter,

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Speaker 1: but the Steelers also traded Kenny Pickett and acquired Justin

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Speaker 1: Fields from Chicago to complete the transformation in their quarterback room.

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Speaker 2: In the days following our acquisitional Russell, Kenny expressed a

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Speaker 2: desire for a change of scenery. As I mentioned, we

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Speaker 2: had been in pretty fluid communication with Chicago after we

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Speaker 2: got a sense of what direction that was going. Then

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Speaker 2: the domino started the fall and we did the transactions

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Speaker 2: necessary to send Kenny to Philly and acquired Justin. We're

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Speaker 2: excited about the guys that we have in Russell and

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Speaker 2: Justin Man and just really can't wait to get started.

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Speaker 1: Beyond the quarterback situation, there are plenty of huge topics

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Speaker 1: for the Steelers in this offseason. Mike Tomlin was good

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Speaker 1: enough to sit down with us here in Orlando at

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Speaker 1: the ENF annual meetings, and Mike, let's start with the

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Speaker 1: hiring of Arthur Smith this UH winner. What drew you

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Speaker 1: to Arthur Smith and what do you expect out of him?

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Speaker 2: You know, I think the first thing that drew me

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Speaker 2: to him was just how tough he was to compete against.

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Speaker 2: We've seen him a lot UH in recent years, whether

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Speaker 2: it was in Atlanta or Tennessee. In terms of his

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Speaker 2: approach to offense, some core beliefs were really attractive to me.

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Speaker 2: His his willingness to run the ball and play behind

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Speaker 2: the run game, uh, the way he throws the ball

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Speaker 2: down the field and play action. All of those were

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Speaker 2: were really attractive components of his profile to me, again

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Speaker 2: based on what it is that we wanna do and

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Speaker 2: how we're built, but also his recent assignment as a

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Speaker 2: head coach is really attractive. There's some there's some awesome

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Speaker 2: unintended consequences picking up an assistant with that level of experience,

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Speaker 2: calendar things, approaches to business. There's just a lot about

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Speaker 2: Arthur that's that's really attractive and I'm glad we have him.

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Speaker 1: Does he fit your personnel as well? Do you think certainly?

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Speaker 2: A and and by fitting our personnel, I just think

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Speaker 2: he's adaptable. I think we as coaches have to be adaptable.

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Speaker 2: We can have a mindset about how we wanna go

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Speaker 2: about our business, but we better be light enough of

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Speaker 2: on our feet to to to adapt that that vision

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Speaker 2: to fit personnel. And just competing against him, over the

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Speaker 2: number of years that I have I've seen that adaptability

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Speaker 2: based on personnel and and He's expressed, uh that through

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Speaker 2: this process, and so I'm really comfortable not only in

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Speaker 2: terms of his core beliefs, but I'm also comfortable in

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Speaker 2: terms of his adaptability to to cater that, to to

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Speaker 2: to what's best for the collective.

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Speaker 1: User word adaptability. You hire other new coaches as well,

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Speaker 1: some of them have to come in and adapt or

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Speaker 1: learn your personnel of How does that work sort of

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes, with getting everybody integrated on a coaching staff.

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Speaker 1: Is it seamless? Is there a give and take on

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Speaker 1: both sides? How does that work?

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Speaker 2: I think it It starts first and foremost with a

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Speaker 2: commitment to to communicate and formally and informally to get

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Speaker 2: to know new coaches oftentimes start with video to get

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Speaker 2: to know players and whether you're talking about them as

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Speaker 2: an individual or about them as a collective, video is

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Speaker 2: where it starts. And and then you start having conversations

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Speaker 2: or to get to know the people involved. And so

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Speaker 2: more than anything, it's about a commitment to to communication

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Speaker 2: formal and informal. There's no other way around it other

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Speaker 2: than the roll your sleeves up and start attacking it.

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Speaker 2: And and that's what's been exciting, That's what we've done.

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Speaker 2: It creates uh, some anxiety, some urgency because of the

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Speaker 2: newness of it, because you know the transitional component of it. Uh,

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Speaker 2: But usually that brings the best out in.

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Speaker 1: All of us. What drew you to Patrick Queen?

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Speaker 2: You know, he has the definitive unique combination of youth

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Speaker 2: and experience. He came into the league as a twenty

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Speaker 2: year old. He's played in every game since he's been

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Speaker 2: in the NFL, He's been highly available, and so he

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Speaker 2: has that experience yet and still he's twenty four and

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Speaker 2: a half years old, and so I think youth and

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Speaker 2: experience is a unique thing he has it. I'm really

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Speaker 2: excited about what he is gonna be for us, and

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Speaker 2: not only in terms of what he's gonna bring, but

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Speaker 2: just to get better. You talking about a guy that's

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Speaker 2: twenty four and a half years old, that is a

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Speaker 2: Pro Bowl level and caliber player as we sit here today,

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Speaker 2: it's reasonable to expect him to continue to get better.

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Speaker 1: When you bring a guy like that in just maybe

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Speaker 1: not him in specific, but high end players like that,

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Speaker 1: how much do you tweak your scheme a little bit

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Speaker 1: to them? How much is it incumbent upon them to

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Speaker 1: play the style you want. I'm sure that's part of

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Speaker 1: the selection process for player as well.

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Speaker 2: I think I think initially is probably the onus is

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Speaker 2: on the player to assimilate into the environment. But I

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Speaker 2: just think the more time you spend with a player,

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Speaker 2: the more you gain an understanding of what they're capable of,

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Speaker 2: what they do well, and what they don't. And shame

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Speaker 2: on you as a coach if you don't work to

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Speaker 2: highlight the things that they do to well or work

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Speaker 2: to minimize the things that they don't. And so it's

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Speaker 2: gonna be dual responsibility. Responsibility on a guy like Pat

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Speaker 2: first to figure out how we do things, you know,

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Speaker 2: win in Rome, be Roman, but also over time it's

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Speaker 2: gonna be important for us as coaches to put him

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Speaker 2: in the very best position for him to play well,

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Speaker 2: to to utilize his talents, and an effort for us

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Speaker 2: to play good defense and win games.

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Speaker 1: You added to Sean Elliott Dante Jackson to your secondary.

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Speaker 1: How do they help you? What are their skill sets?

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Speaker 2: Like? You know, uh D jack is a guy that's

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Speaker 2: a very capable cover man, a guy that's undersized yet

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Speaker 2: plays with an edge. He's really quick, his anticipatory skills

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Speaker 2: are very evident. He's a ball guy. He's he attacks

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Speaker 2: the football. I have always liked that about his profile.

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Speaker 2: And Elliott is a guy that, because he was in

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Speaker 2: division at the early stages of his career, where highly

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Speaker 2: familiar with what he what he brings. He is a

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Speaker 2: strong tackler and aggressive player. Has always had the appearance

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Speaker 2: of being a really good communicator. And those are some

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Speaker 2: things that are really critical to the safety position.

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Speaker 1: I know there are still holes to fill, but do

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Speaker 1: you feel like right now, maybe projecting out or maybe

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Speaker 1: just where you sit right now, that your team has

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Speaker 1: improved over the team that you know lost in the

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Speaker 1: first round of Buffalo?

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Speaker 2: You know, I don't know that I feel that, as

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Speaker 2: I said here, I just think that, you know, the

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Speaker 2: draft and and what remains in free agency is such

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Speaker 2: significant work. Make no mistake, we we like what we've

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Speaker 2: done thus far. But man, we're still very much in

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Speaker 2: the midst of this thing. The draft is so significant,

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Speaker 2: and sometimes late acquisitions, although they don't get headlines, are

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Speaker 2: really significant. We signed Kwan Alexander, for example, last year

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Speaker 2: when we were in camp, and you know, prior to

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Speaker 2: his injury, man, he was shaping up to be a

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Speaker 2: significant component of what we were doing defensively, and so

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Speaker 2: I'm still excited about the work that lies ahead, and

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Speaker 2: we still have a high level of urgency, uh for

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Speaker 2: the work that lies ahead.

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Speaker 1: I think the last question is the biggest for a

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Speaker 1: lot of fans. Do you expect to be coaching the

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Speaker 1: Steelers for the foreseeable future?

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Speaker 2: Hey?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, you know.

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Speaker 2: I love what I do, I love where I do it,

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Speaker 2: I love who I do it with. And so I

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Speaker 2: answered that question rather easily to be quite honest with you.

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Speaker 2: Certainly we have, you know, things like contracts and things

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Speaker 2: to address, but just in spirit, in terms of what

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Speaker 2: I do, the energy in which I bring to what

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Speaker 2: did I do, the desire to to get out of

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Speaker 2: that car every day and step into that facility, It

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Speaker 2: hasn't waned in any way. If if it's done anything different,

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Speaker 2: it is intensified.

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Speaker 1: Mike. Thank you, Thank you. M