Being away from team facilities for much of the offseason certainly had its downsides. One of them not being able to utilize first-class strength and conditioning facilities and also not having coaches or teammates around to motivate you to be your best self.
This non-traditional offseason gave coaches an accurate indicator of which players are self-motivated and who are not, who works hard when isolated and who does not.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t see much of a fallout from that aspect of the offseason.
“I’m continually impressed with the things that were important to us coming into this environment; the overall conditioning of the group, they’re continuing to show good preparedness in that area,” said Tomlin in a Thursday press conference.
Tomlin spoke mainly to the physical transformation of receiver Diontae Johnson.
“I believe you guys will see a significant physical difference in Diontae Johnson… I think you could look at any position and see growth and development in terms of understanding between Year 1 and Year 2 in terms of appropriate actions taken because of it, whether it’s guys adding bulk and strength for the long term fight or whether it’s guys getting lean and fighting professional tendencies, professional rhythms in terms of diets and nutrition. There’s a lot of reasons why those bodies transform, but it has to do a lot with knowledge as opposed to speculating.”
