COACH MIKE TOMLIN AND DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS KEVIN COLBERT
PRE-DRAFT PRESS CONFERENCE
APRIL 23, 2007

 

Kevin Colbert:  I would like to start off by first of all thanking Coach Tomlin and his staff for the time that they put into this draft.  Coming in brand new, they have a lot on their mind, from a personal standpoint relocating families and getting situated and then from a professional standpoint, they are worried about the on-field product, as they should be.  They did everything that we asked them to do and we are very appreciative of their efforts because as you know, it is a team collective effort.

 

We are probably ninety percent of the way through the evaluations.  We finished all of our meetings on the positions themselves.  For the rest of the week, we will do some special, more concise meetings early in the week just to tie up some loose ends maybe on character or medical issues and then later in the week we will get into more of the mock drafts as we always do with the Rooney's and the entire coaching and scouting staffs at the end.  We are picking No. 15 as everybody knows.  As we always do, we call all of the teams and touch base as far as trading up or trading down.  It is less likely that we are going to go up from the 15th position because it is very expensive to get up in that top echelon.  Trading down could be an option for us.  We already have nine draft picks because we picked up an extra fourth and fifth as compensatory picks, but this is probably a good draft where more picks midway through is probably a good thing because there are a lot of good players that are going to be available in those three, four round areas.  That could be interesting to us.  The draft itself, as any other draft, has its strengths and weaknesses.  The offensive line is probably in an average area.  The receivers are as deep as I have ever seen them with some special players in that group.  I think you can go well into the second day and you are still going to come away with a quality receiver.  The tight ends are a little lighter.  I think that is becoming more of a trend because of the spread offenses, you see less fullbacks and less tight ends that are playing.  With quarterbacks, it is a decent group, nothing special.  With running backs, it is the same way.  There are a couple really good guys and there are some guys after that that are going to make teams and be contributors.  Defensively, I think it is good at all levels.  I think that is something that is interesting to us because we could use help at any level of our defense, not necessarily coming in and starting right away.  But if we can add depth at any point at any level of our defense, we will be helping our team.  If you look back on our draft history, or at least sine I have been involved with it, we have always alternated offense defense until the last three years, we have been straight offense.  It doesn't mean you will take a defensive player this year but it does mean that you probably got a little older on defense from a depth standpoint than you would like to be.  I think the only two positions you could eliminate for us in the first round, I think obviously would be a quarterback or a tight end.  I think anything other than that will be wide open.  We are excited.  This is a new era and it is an exciting time and we are just ready to get going.

 

How much does character factor into the evaluation process?

 

Coach Tomlin:  I think for me personally, it is no more of an emphasis this year than it has been in the past.  I think that things that happen outside the white lines always manifest itself inside the white lines.  It has become more of an issue for the league as a whole and the commissioner has been very deliberate about his stance, the stance that we are all going to take on that.  It is an issue.  It is part of the evaluation process.  It is part of a player's profile, as it should be. 

 

Will you consider trading Alan Faneca?

 

Kevin Colbert:  We touch base with every team.  We never get into specific names, most teams don't unless they have come out publicly and have said that because you never mention a player's name unless you are sure that player is not going to be with you because if his name gets out in trade talks and you don't trade him, then you have a problem on your hands.  So everybody is very general.  They may say we have an extra offensive lineman or an extra wide out or defensive back, or whatever.  We are very vague in general in those discussions as well.

 

How does it work between you two in making final decisions?

 

Kevin Colbert:  We have been meeting with the coaches since April 2nd, so it has been a long process and we have had discussions, we had disagreements as we always do and we always come to one conclusion one way or another.  It is a collaboration of not only Coach Tomlin and myself, but all the scouts and all the assistant coaches.  The two of us sit in there and try to monitor it and have good, thorough discussions based on similarities or differences and we are able to come to a common agreement, which we have done and will continue to do as we finalize this thing.

 

Is trading picks for a player, or player for picks a possibility for you?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Sure, we are open to anything.  You never say never on any given situation.  If you say you wouldn't do it, and then all of a sudden proposes something crazy, you have to consider it. 

 

Does the salary cap affect trades?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Yes, because if you trade one of your players, the acceleration would come in the given year that you trade.

 

How does the second day change from the first day in terms of picking?

 

Kevin Colbert:  It really doesn't.  Obviously the players you are picking on the second day, if you have them evaluated correctly, aren't going to be as good as the ones you hopefully took on the first day.  As we all know, that is not always the case, Tom Brady and Willie Parker come to mind right away. Usually you are drafting more depth on the second day and you are possibly considering guys that might not make your team but may be a practice guy that in four, five or eights weeks into the season he may be ready play and make your active roster.

 

You also have less time to pick, are you more apt to take chances on the second day because you are not spending as much money on those guys as you are on the first day?

 

Kevin Colbert:  No, I wouldn't say that.  I think we are very consistent.  On the first day, we are ready to pick as soon as our turn comes up.  We have talked about it as it approaches, we will have four or five options at every pick.  If one goes, then we will go right to the next one.  It will be discussed.  The only reason we wait is sometimes you are waiting for a team to maybe call and offer you something as a trade down like we did with Casey Hampton.  We wanted Casey where we were picking, but someone offered us a move up, we traded down and we felt that we had a good chance of still getting him.  That is the only reason we hold the pick.

 

How crazy does it get on the second day during those five minutes you have to pick?

 

Kevin Colbert:   The trades are probably less complicated, but you have less time to complete them.  You make a call to a team, you agree, one team calls the league after you agree to who is going to call the league, Joel Bussert will approve it, then it is done and you have to follow up with paperwork after that.  No paperwork has to be exchanged before Joel will approve it. 

 

Do you already know who you want to select and you just wait for trade offers?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Right, we are going to have 15 guys that we agree we would take at that pick, so we are not going to lose in the first round.  We are going to have a player, we will have 15 and we only have 15 to pick, so we are going to take one of them.  It is just a matter, of those 15 there might still be four of them available when we pick.  So we will have to see what four are available.

 

Do you leave quarterbacks and tight ends out of the top 15 ranking?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Obviously, there are quarterbacks that are going to be above that.  So you know those guys are going to go ahead of where we are picking, or chances are very good that they are going to go.  You have to have 15 players that you would take.  They might not necessarily be the top 15 because of a couple positions like I mentioned. 

 

Do you always have four or five names every time your pick comes around?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Yes, we want to have options.  We really don't want to be locked in to this guy.  We want to have options so that if you have a group of five and that top rated guy is a quarterback and the bottom rated guy is a corner of those five but if they rated close, you are going to the corner because the need factor in at that point.  Again, as I have said before, the mistake that will be made is if you need something and you go to the next round and take him and you left a better player on the board.  In the end, that will catch up to you. 

 

How differently are you approaching draft day as a head coach?

 

Coach Tomlin:  I received great advice as a young coach.  I approached it very similar to how I approach it now.  As a position coach, I studied everybody in the draft.  We had an open door policy in Tampa in terms of the coaches being able to be part of the process whether your position was being discussed or not.  I took advantage of that.  I am a personnel enthusiast by nature.  I think if you want to excel in this business, you better have an interest in personnel.  Mentally, I have been through the process before, probably not officially, but it is not unlike what I have done in the past.

 

How many rookies do you want to have on your roster going into camp?

 

Coach Tomlin:  We will determine that.  What I mean by that is, that is what part of last week was about, getting a sense of the guys that we have here and if they are viable guys and how we feel about them and adding to those guys or making changes if necessary as we move forward in the draft.  Those are some of the things that we are going to talk about this week as we continue to stack the board and look at some of the guys particularly as you get into the second day and some free agent guys, how they stack up against some of the guys that we are developing here.

 

How many are on your roster now?

 

Kevin Colbert:  74.

 

What is the maximum?

 

Kevin Colbert:  We can have 84 because we have four Europe exemptions. 

 

Do they only count when signed?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Correct.

 

Coach Tomlin:  When we sign them, yes.

 

So, you could have as many as 100 guys here for your mini-camp?

 

Kevin Colbert:  It doesn't count in the NFL eyes, but Mr. Rooney and Art keep that limit right where they want it.  It will be 84.

 

But you only have 10 spots:

 

Kevin Colbert: As Coach said, there might be better players available as we go through the draft than what we have right now on our board. Coach will make the determination ob who he wants to bring back for the second mini-camp and for training camp, so some of the kids that are going to be available to us might be upgrades.

 

Characterize what you saw in mini-camp:

 

Mike Tomlin: What it does is give you an indication of a players skill set; what somebody is capable to do physically, from a body control standpoint and athleticism and things of that nature. It is not football because it is shorts, so I don't want to put too much value on it, but it is helpful in terms at looking at some of the things that someone is potentially capable of doing in terms of playing the game.

 

Evaluate Darelle Revis:

 

Mike Tomlin: The thing that is interesting to me is that he is a power-transition guy. He is a very powerful player. You like guys that play like that. They play strong. He has a nice body. He has a nice combination of size and speed. He is also a young guy, he is a true junior. You would imagine that he has a lot of football in front of him. He seems to have his head on straight and is a really sharp young man. He has a lot of the things that are attractive.

 

Would you be interested in him #1:

 

Mike Tomlin: He would be somebody that I would be interested in. He is definitely a viable guy. I don't think that his name would be too far down on any of the 32 boards.

 

Evaluate Paul Posluszny:

 

Kevin Colbert: There are good players. Next door (Pitt) there are good players; Penn State has good guys; West Virginia has had theirs. Everybody knows who they are and believe me, they are all in consideration at various levels for us. We are very fortunate that we are surrounded by some many good schools. Within a four-hour radius, you have Ohio State, West Virginia, Pitt and Penn State. We have to pay special attention to those guys, because if we don't know about those guys, we are not doing our job. It is a lot easier to keep up with those guys, especially when he they are right next door.

 

Does Marques Colston make you pay more attention to sleepers:

 

Kevin Colbert: No, those things are going to happen. You are going to miss. You can't evaluate out of fear that you are going to miss somebody. You just have to stay true to what you believe in. That is the right way to do it. You don't' except somebody like that slipping through because he was obviously a better player than any of us gave him credit for. It is going to happen. We are not happy about it and we will always go back and look at the mistakes that we had and figure out why we made them. We will try to be critical of why we missed them. It is the same way you look at it when you draft somebody high and he doesn't work out. It is not the players fault, it is our fault, because we are the ones that said he was worthy of a pick. If he didn't live up to it, again, that is our fault for over evaluating him. We don't change. We we believe in what we are doing, we stay true to it.

 

Do you draft to fit a style, or does style come from your players:

 

Kevin Colbert: In a given system that you have had here for so many years, you knew a certain type of player fit here better than another. You also don't want to lock into a specific need. I coach will answer this the same way and I don't want to take words out of his mouth, but he always says that talent defines scheme. If you lock yourself in and say he can't help us, that is when you make a mistake.

 

Mike Tomlin: That is exactly what I was going to say. Talent does define scheme. The great ones, they can play regardless of what the specific Xs and Os are. In today's NFL, the lines are really starting to get a little blurry, specifically when you start talking about the 3-4 versus the 4-3. The issue now is whether it is a one-gap front or a two-gap front. There are some 3-4 teams that are a one-gap front and there are some 3-4 teams that are a two-gap front. The 3-4 teams that are a one-gap front play very similar to the 4-3 teams. It is becoming gray and I think football players are football players and guys that can make plays, will make plays.

 

Is cornerback play less important in Cover-2:

 

Mike Tomlin: That is inaccurate. Even traditional Cover 2 teams play the Cover-2 a maximum of about 33 percent of the time. When you are talking about two out of every three snaps, they have to been in a single safety defense, where they are either playing thirds or man. I think some of the characteristics that people are looking for when they are talking about finding a Cover-2 corner are gross generalizations. Those guys have to play football. They have to defend vertical fields like just like everyone else. You would like to go out there and play Cover-2 every snap, but the reality is that even the people that believe strongly in it don't. My experience down there in Tampa, I would say that over the course of five years about 33 percent of the snaps and that leaves 67 percent of the snaps where they are not in the short zone.

 

Any butterflies:

 

Mike Tomlin: I do. I like that feeling though. I have gotten that feeling a lot of ways, regarding a lot of things the last few months. The draft is one of them. You love those challenges and have to look forward to embracing them.

 

Can you imagine the media coverage that the team will get at training camp?

 

Mike Tomlin: I am starting to imagine. It is awesome.

 

How do Pro Days factor into process?

 

Kevin Colbert: Usually what we try to do is try to be selective, very selective in the spring, only because there are time constraints. For the most part, we are going to try to zero in on the guys that didn't work out at the combine. We make sure that we get the same read on these players as we did on the guys that were out in Indianapolis. Then piecing in together with that is filling in the dates. Honestly, we were traveling in style, which is what the Coach comes in handy for. If there were other things and other workouts available, we were going to stay out and get an extra look. The more evaluations you can get, the better. If we could be out everyday in the spring, I go to all of them and take coach out there to all of them. It really gets to be a little too hard, so you try to map out a productive trip and if there is some time to fill in, you do that. We did that this spring.

 

Mike Tomlin: What Kevin is referring to is the fact that, if he takes me, he gets to ride in a private jet and doesn't have to fly commercial. We had a good week getting around. Every step along the way, in terms of things that lead up to the draft, are just pieces of the puzzle. In reality, you go to a personal workout because maybe some questions haven't been answered about something that you have seen along the way. Or maybe you want to dig deeper. It all works together as information gathering.

 

Why did you go to Florida State's Pro Day together?

 

Mike Tomlin: For me personally, I guess it is just part of me being down in Tampa for so long. I have been to about six of them in a row. It has become normalcy for me to go to their workout, probably similar to you guys going over to Pitt, or something like that. That was my mentality. They have some quality players and a good program so they are going to have players come out every year.

 

Kevin Colbert: If I remember correctly, that week, I think Arkansas was working out that Tuesday and they had a player, Jamaal Anderson, who hadn't worked out yet. Michigan was working out on Friday; Lamar Woodley hadn't worked out, so there was time in between. We decided to go out and get an extra look. We could do it, so logistically we figured, let's take advantage of it."

 

How does process here differ from other team's you've worked with?

 

Mike Tomlin: Probably very similar to some situations that I have been in. One of the things that I am appreciating about what we do here is the level of communication. There is a commitment to staying in the room and talking out issues when differences in opinion occur. That is part of it. The decisions that we make this weekend are going to be Pittsburgh Steelers' decisions, so it requires communication and the ability to continue to massage issues until we feel comfortable with them.

 

Why do good players drop into 2nd round?

 

Kevin Colbert: I don't think there has been a trend of dropping. I think every year it is different. I don't think this draft is necessarily top heavy. That is why I say that it it interesting to me, that late 2nd, early 3rd round and early 4th rounds. There are going to be a lot of god players that I think we will have access to. I think that every year, it is just different. There might be trends. There are less tight ends and less fullbacks, because of the spread offenses. Consequently, you see more corners, because they have to cover all these guys. It is just a trend in college football that we have to adjust our evaluations to, because it lends to different blocking and different techniques defensively because of the different blocking offensively. We have to try to see through that to see if these guys can play at the level or in the type of game that we play. I don't think there is any trend as far as we can tell in any given realm.

 

Where do you see the tiers of talent this year?

 

Kevin Colbert: The elite up top are the offensive guys. That is unusual for the most part. There are a couple defensive guys, but usually, it is a defensive top-heavy except for maybe a couple offensive guys. That trend is a little different this year. This year we feel good where we are at 15. This isn't a bad year to be a little bit lower. There are a lot of good players that are going to be available. We are excited and we wish that we had more than nine picks, because I really think we could really help ourselves.

 

Have you seen Verron Haynes, and how is he doing?  What are the chances of him coming back on the team?  Any updates on other injured guys?

 

Kevin Colbert:  Obviously, we terminated Verron and that was really for some salary cap issues that was actually to his benefit and he is here diligently working with John Norwig and our training staff.  His goal is to be available for training camp.  Coach told him and we reaffirmed that if he keeps working and comes back healthy, we want him back on this team because Verron is a big part of what we do.  With the other guys, Coach will make the determination on who is practicing at different levels.  I think we got through the mini-camp healthy.

 

How important is addressing the need for pass rushers?

 

Coach Tomlin:  There are some from the defensive end positions and some guys that can be vertical disruptives to the interior and there are some linebackers.  I think it is a solid draft that standpoint.

 

Is that a priority?

 

Coach Tomlin:  You are always looking for guys that can rush the passer and make the ball come out on time or not at all.  I just think that is a big element of the game, particularly in today's NFL. They are splash playmakers, guys that can get you off the field, guys that can create turnovers.