Mike Tomlin hints at Steelers personnel changes

Lost in a season-ending news conference dominated by the Antonio Brown situation was Mike Tomlin repeatedly hinted at personnel changes for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Under normal circumstances during the final meeting with media after a season, Tomlin would have been asked repeatedly about myriad of possible staffing changes and/or potential player turnover. But Brown’s absence from the season finale and reported trade demand siphoned the vast majority of the questioning, leaving a portion of Tomlin’s 13-minute opening statement to stand as virtually Tomlin’s only thoughts on anything else.

Tomlin was characteristically subtle, but the 12th-year coach repeatedly referenced “changes” during the end of his opening remarks Wednesday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

“Change is going to be a part of moving forward,” Tomlin said. “What those changes will be, we are in the process of gathering information and plotting out a course. We are not going to be resistant to change in any facet.”

Last season, the Steelers replaced three position coaches and their offensive coordinator, albeit one (wide receivers coach Richard Mann) was a retirement and not the organization’s decision. In terms of players, the biggest moves the organization made involved releasing four members of their secondary.

Tomlin did not mention any names or even approach any specifics, although he brought up “change” unsolicited about a half dozen times.

“When you lack success and you fail, change is a part of it,” Tomlin said. “We’ve talked about it as a staff. We’ve talked about it (with) players in exit interviews and meetings. That’s just our business. You look around our business and see and recognize and embrace that element of it.”

The closest Tomlin came to addressing the job security of his 12 assistants was when he discussed how the only advantage of the season ending without a playoff berth was that for the first time in a half decade, the organization had additional time to prepare for the ensuing season.

Tomlin mentioned being done earlier meant they are on the market earlier for potential assistants.

“Being in this position affords us a lot of opportunity in terms of time to assess,” Tomlin said. “Oftentimes when you go deep into the playoffs, you get into the moving train. … in terms of 2019, the acquisition of coaching talent, the looking at free agency and the draft and so forth.

“We are out at the first exit, and so we have additional time. We better utilize that time. We met this morning as a staff and talked openly about dwelling in being where we are, doing a really good job of being accountable and assessing what has transpired and analyzing what has transpired before we even get into the task of plotting out ’19 and the things that come with it. Not going to be bashful about that, you know?”

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.