PALM BEACH, Fla. — For a person who has been with one team longer than all but one NFL head coach, Mike Tomlin said his circle of friends in the league is not very big.
He said he considers himself a "lone wolf," a coach who does not fraternize with other head coaches and tends to focus more on his work than making friends.
"I don't have a lot of close significant coaching relationships outside of my small network," Tomlin said.
For the first and only time all season, the Steelers coach faced questions from members of the national media at Monday morning's AFC coaches breakfast at the Breakers Resort, site of the NFL owners meetings. In 16 years, he is the only head coach to never appear on a podium at the NFL scouting combine, mainly because it stays in line with his approach about fraternization. He only does so at the owners meetings.
Addressing questions from the national media who want to probe into his thought process and decision making is not one of his favorite pastimes. But he tends to keep other head coaches in the league at arm's length, too.
"Because we're competitors, we're combatants," Tomlin said. "It's easier that way."
In other words, he doesn't want to be chummy with a coach he is trying to beat in the regular season.
"Not particularly, no," Tomlin said. "I prefer old friends as opposed to new ones — people who have been significant in my growth and development along the way."
A fan of OT
Tomlin, who is a member of the league's competition committee that submits rules proposals to the owners, said he senses a desire among the teams to do something about the overtime rule.
However, he cautioned, "whether or not we can land the plane remains to be seen."
Tomlin is not a proponent of amending the rule. He likes the overtime format the way it is and doesn't think it should be tinkered with any further.
"I'm a sudden-death advocate; I'm a traditionalist," he said. "I don't fear sudden death. I never have. I'm one of the few sudden-death advocates, I would imagine. I just think in 60 minutes, everybody has had a fair opportunity to win the game."
Missing piece
General manager Kevin Colbert said he thinks the Steelers have 24 capable starters out of the 25 total positions, including special teams. The one position where they are lacking a capable starter is strong safety, where former top pick Terrell Edmunds is an unrestricted free agent.
The Steelers would consider re-signing Edmunds, but only if he doesn't get a substantial offer in free agency. They are not going to chase him with contract offers. Despite wishful thinking on the part of the public, they are not in financial position to sign Tyrann Mathieu because of the large extension they are prepared to give free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, according to sources.
The Steelers re-signed strong safety Miles Killebrew, but he is considered a special teams player and emergency backup, not a potential starter.
"When I say we have 24 or 25 starters in place, does that mean we're good enough at all those positions? Of course not," Colbert said. "I mean, we're always going to be looking to challenge whoever is in that role or who we can possibly upgrade. So, I do want to make that distinction. But the one place where we don't have an established starter is at that strong safety, so we'll continue to look at that."
GM search update
The Steelers are done with their initial wave of interviewing candidates for Colbert's soon-to-be-vacant GM position and will begin the process of paring the list and conducting second interviews after the draft.
Colbert presented 16 candidates to team president Art Rooney II, including three who have previously served as GMs in the NFL — Doug Whaley (Buffalo), Rick Spielman (Minnesota) and Jerry Reese (New York Giants). They also interviewed several candidates who began their front-office careers with the Steelers, including Philadelphia Eagles vice president of player personnel and Mt. Lebanon native Andy Weidl and Green Bay Packers director of pro personnel and Plum native John Wojciechowski.
"There's a lot of good folks that have either done this position, have worked this position before or we think have the ability to work this position," Colbert said. "What I did was put together a list of recommendations that I presented to Art because I know the field a little better than he does, obviously, because I worked in that field for the last 22 years and know who the talent is."
The Steelers will not name Colbert's successor until sometime after the draft. They will not do so earlier because they want to focus all their attention on draft preparation. Tomlin, who did not sit in on any of the original interviews, will be a part of the second wave.
Tomlin was asked if he would be interested in the dual role of general manager.
"Absolutely not," he said. "I love coaching football. I'm kind of a singularly focused guy."
