Mike Tomlin declined to discuss the immediate status of any key veterans who may have been unable to complete the Steelers’ first mini-camp practice - or any key vets who may have watched while not in uniform.
“I don’t talk injury in great detail this time of year; I’m not required to,” Tomlin explained while also adding, “but rest assured if I thought something was significant I’d address it with you guys.”
Tomlin was, however, more than willing to discuss one aspect of his players’ health - Vaccinations.
“I am really comfortable,” Tomlin said. “I like our overall trajectory of our participation in the vaccination process. Guys have worked hard to adhere to the policies and the protocols. We’re going to work hard and look for any advantage that compliance may give us.”
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Some of those advantages per an agreement between owners and the players association are that fully vaccinated players and personnel are not subject to daily testing, mask-wearing requirements, contact-tracing quarantines or weight-room capacity limits.
Fully vaccinated players and personnel are also allowed to eat in team cafeterias, use saunas and steam rooms and interact with vaccinated family members and friends during travel. Non-vaccinated players and personnel remain subject to rigid protocols.
Of course, there is no way of knowing if any of those “advantages” will translate into success come September or, for that matter, what the Covid landscape will be when the regular season begins three months from now.
But the Steelers do seem to be ahead of other NFL teams. The Washington Post reports that as of late last week, 16 teams have more than 50 of the 90 players on their rosters vaccinated and three of those teams are at 70 or more.
According to Tomlin, his Steelers are among those three. “I don’t know the exact percentage,” he said, “but from what I understand we’re tops in the league in this process.”
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As Dr. Jonas Salk would agree, it’s appropriate that Pittsburgh would take the lead in vaccinations.