Tomlin Ready for Draft Day

You can’t blame Mike Tomlin for being a bit pumped up this week, having just finished a successful veteran mini-camp and in final preparation for his first NFL Draft as a head coach.

Tomlin admitted on Monday in a pre-draft press conference that he has butterflies as the draft closes in.

“I like that feeling though,” said Tomlin. “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.”

While it’s Tomlin’s first draft in his current role, he has been through plenty of them as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings. He is preparing for this one in the same manner that he did.

“I received great advice as a young coach,” said Tomlin. “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.”

Tomlin and director of football operations Kevin Colbert have been overseeing the draft evaluation meetings, which will turn into mock drafts the next few days. There has been plenty of conversation about players, with differing opinions along the way, but a great line of communication has already evolved.

“One of the things that I am appreciating about what we do here is the level of communication,” said Tomlin. “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.”