PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Pittsburgh Steelers aren't getting off the quarterback carousel any time soon. Amid a public courtship of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, coach Mike Tomlin said Sunday the team is still evaluating its options to add to the quarterback room.
"We're still evaluating the acquisition of a guy at the position, whether it's free agency and/or the draft, and so we're doing our due diligence communicating with some free agents. Also preparing for the draft," Tomlin said from the NFL's annual league meetings in his first public comments since a season-ending news conference in January.
"We're optimistic about the room that we're constructing. Obviously, we're excited about having Mason Rudolph back.
"But certainly we're going to continue to explore all our options in terms of rounding that room out."
Tomlin was coy on the specifics of the Steelers' pursuit of the 41-year-old Rodgers, who visited the team facility for nearly six hours on March 21.
"It's been reported that he spent a day with us, and it was a really good day," Tomlin said. "Specifically he and I obviously have known of each other for some time, and so it was really good to spend some time together man and get to know each other more intimately, but it is free agency. It is a process. I have nothing of any more significance to add other than that."
Tomlin said there wasn't an internal Steelers deadline to resolve the situation with Rodgers.
"Not to my knowledge," he said. "I don't know that we've approached it from a deadline perspective. Certainly as I mentioned, you'd like to have settled circumstances, but deadlines don't often bring that to a head."
The Steelers coach added he also didn't ask Rodgers about his timeline during their in-person visit.
"I really wanted to spend more of our time just getting to know him better and things that he values as a player and a man and what he might be looking for with his next stop," he said.
Asked about a potential "plan B" if Rodgers elects to go elsewhere or retire, Tomlin said that the team hasn't necessarily identified a preference in their avenues for constructing the position.
"I don't know if we are identifying anything as plan A, plan B or plan C," he said. "We're just simply looking at the field of available people, whether it's free agency or the draft and making decisions and gathering information accordingly."
Tomlin also said he "hadn't thought a lot" about settling the Rodgers situation before the draft and that the unresolved quarterback position hasn't hindered the team's free agency plans. The Steelers traded for wide receiver DK Metcalf on the eve of the negotiating period and signed free agent cornerback Darius Slay and running back Kenneth Gainwell, among others.
Though the Steelers aren't setting an impending deadline on Rodgers' decision, Tomlin acknowledged that entering training camp with an incomplete quarterback room could negatively impact team development.
"In the spring it's about teaching and learning and getting familiar with players and making sure they're getting familiar with some of the things that we value," he said. "It's not an evaluation time of the year for us. It's certainly not a time of the year where we're focused on readying ourselves for the game action. Certainly training camp would kind of be a line of demarcation in terms of that discussion, the spring's about teaching and learning."
Downplaying the significance of having a complete quarterback position in the spring is something of a departure from Tomlin's words a year ago, when he said it was important to place Russell Wilson in "pole position" for the starting job over Justin Fields because of his experience and veteran leadership.
"During this time where we are not formally working, man, I just think it's beneficial," Tomlin said at the 2024 March NFL league meetings. "It just creates a synergy that I think is good for this time of year."
While the quarterback position is a work in progress, Tomlin acknowledged that Rudolph's experience with the team -- and the team's view of him as a potential starter -- led to the Steelers signing him to a two-year deal.
"I think that's why we reacquired him, man," Tomlin said, asked if there was a thought Rudolph could be "the guy." "We like Mason Rudolph, but that's no secret."
