Stephon Tuitt Wants to Play Football

[Steeler Nation]

General manager Kevin Colbert is attending the NFL combine and was on Steelers Nation Radio today. Eventually the elephant in the room was brought up and Colbert told Steelers Nation Radio that Stephon Tuitt expressed a desire to play football again.

“Absolutely. I mean he wanted to play last year. He had a knee injury that he had to work his way through and obviously had the family situation that hurt along those lines, but we respected what he had to deal with and we tried to support him as best as possible.”

This is big news for Steeler Nation as Tuitt has missed the entire 2021 season on Injured Reserve dealing with a knee surgery and the loss of his brother from a tragic hit and run accident.

“We’re very excited to see what the next step is for Stephon. We’re respectful of where he is and we’ll continue to monitor that and see where it leads. Stephon went through a tough year and we respect that and understood that, and where it happens from the next step, we don’t know, and we’ll always have that door open for him.

The Pittsburgh Steelers would love to have Tuitt return to the trenches opposite to his partner in crime, All-Pro Cameron Heyward. This would go a long way to helping the Steelers’ rushing defense return to greatness.

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[mightyguru]

Stay tuned, Steeler Nation....

 

[madinsomniac]

Id welcome him back for sure… dupree was able tonpile up sacks because blocking schemes had to accout for tuitt, watt, and heyward so they had guys trying to chip tuitt and still get over to block dupree all the time and it opened him up a lot

 

[bermudasteel]

I'll wait until I hear it from Stephon himself...I don't know if this is smoke and mirrors so teams don't jump us for Jordan Davis!!!

 

[stillerfaninfl]

I'll believe it when camp rolls around.

 

[TDX27]

His knee was ready to go early in the season. He took the year off. He has one year left on his contract with a large cap hit. He should not get another contract from the Steelers. It makes little sense to bring him back this year (and no sense to give him another contract - he is not getting better with age like Heyward) unless he takes a large pay cut. Based on his track record, even if he plays, chances are he misses at least a few games. You can't count on him.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I treat him as depth until proven otherwise.

For those who think he will step right in and resume where he left off may want to rethink that line. He has a long road both mentally and physically to conqure.

berm, don't uncross your fingers as anything is possible.!




Salute the nation

 

[Troglodyte]

If it was just his knee, they should have said that. It has always been cryptically paired with the family issue. I don’t even know the extent of his knee injury. Does anyone?

If I was the Steelers, I’d ask him to renegotiate his roster bonus date or move it to his 2022 salary, and release him him if he refused.

After nearly two years since his last playing time, you don’t know what you’re getting with him. He needs to first show he’s ready and able to play in training camp.

 

[wig]

He's been out of football for over a year. Well over a year, in fact. I have no idea how long it will take him to get back to playing weight and strength in the first place and THEN to reestablish the muscle memory that has undoubtedly begun to regress.

He may be as good a player as he was in 2 or 3 years, but if he plays this year, he would likely be a 2nd or 3rd option at best.

 

[Steeltime]

Tuitt and the Garoppolo comments make me worried that the Steelers think that 2022 is the last chance for this particular roster to win a championship so they are going "all in" in 2022.

If true, what a terrible approach. Team is losing Haden at CB, has a bust at ILB they spent a ton of draft capital to get, a makeshift offensive line, a mediocre group of WR's about to get softer with the loss of Juju, three genuinely great players on defense (Watt, Heyward, Minkah) but waaaay too much mediocrity. Garoppolo is not much better than Rudolph, for crying out loud. 6 playoff games, 4 TD's, 6 picks, 74 rating. Last 5 regular seasons, 66 TD, 38 (!) picks, 35 games missed due to injury.

I would say "pass," but for Garoppolo, I think it would be intercepted.

 

[JP1977]

That's nice. In any other job in the world he would have been fired for not showing up.

 

[TDX27]

This team has some good young players that they just need to keep building around. They don't need to overreact or overreach this year - just use the cap space wisely bringing in quality free agents and then get as much from the draft as you can. But, I will preach it until I'm blue in the face, the DL and OL are the top priorities. Make them strengths again and everything else becomes so much easier. Heck, with a good DL in front of him, Bush might even play well enough to get a contract offer after the season.

 

[bkwheat28]

This team has some good young players that they just need to keep building around. They don't need to overreact or overreach this year - just use the cap space wisely bringing in quality free agents and then get as much from the draft as you can. But, I will preach it until I'm blue in the face, the DL and OL are the top priorities. Make them strengths again and everything else becomes so much easier. Heck, with a good DL in front of him, Bush might even play well enough to get a contract offer after the season.

I don’t have the like function so I’ll do it this way . Well said and I agree.

 

[Drink IRON City]

He's been out of football for over a year. Well over a year, in fact. I have no idea how long it will take him to get back to playing weight and strength in the first place and THEN to reestablish the muscle memory that has undoubtedly begun to regress.

He may be as good a player as he was in 2 or 3 years, but if he plays this year, he would likely be a 2nd or 3rd option at best.

And that is why his contract needs to be renogotiated to cap friendly and bonus free. They paid him in full for last year the least he could do is wave the roster bonus due start of fiscal year / season.

This is a good example of not holding a player to long

I want him to play at his high level but only hold him accountable to depth, until he proves otherwise.




Salute the nation

 

[Steelr4evr]

That's nice. In any other job in the world he would have been fired for not showing up.

In the real world they'd tell you to man the **** up after a short period of time.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

In the real world they'd tell you to man the **** up after a short period of time.

Maybe the real world needs to rethink how they treat mental health

 

[JP1977]

Maybe the real world needs to rethink how they treat mental health

I think he can afford mental health care.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

I think he can afford mental health care.

As aparent of a child/young adult with mental health issues I applaud the Steelers or their patience and understanding. We really need to change our attitudes about it in this country.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I don't have Mental or physical health care answers, it's one of America's biggest issues and politicians / presidents can't see to get it right.


Tuitt is a football player and has best access to anything health related including mental. He has people around him with-in the organization to assist him in any way.......... HE has had time to take advaqntage of these and NOW it's time to either be a football player or a patient. He can be both but this is a football team so the football player has to be first. He can retire if his mental need is to great to be a football player. SORRY but hard facts are just that and before anyone jumps ****, I'm as compassionate as any and feel for his plight but also am a realist.

Either he puts up or we move on.






Salute the nation

 

[wig]

Maybe the real world needs to rethink how they treat mental health

He think was talking about Jimmy G, not Tuitt.

 

[steelhurt]

I would move on from Tuitt plain and simple. I simply don't think you can count on him at this point in time after the tragic death of his brother which he will never get over, and he just cannot stay healthy. Entirely too much money and cap space eaten for a player in this state of mind who could change his mind at the drop of a hat. What happens if now he says he wants to play, we count on that and come training camp he has a change of heart. Thats' what I would fear happening and we didn't draft a DL high enough or sign anyone that could make a smooth transition from Tuitt. Nah, his heart is not in this any longer and when the pressure of the season is upon him, won't be surprised to see him walk away.

 

[TDX27]

I would move on from Tuitt plain and simple. I simply don't think you can count on him at this point in time after the tragic death of his brother which he will never get over, and he just cannot stay healthy. Entirely too much money and cap space eaten for a player in this state of mind who could change his mind at the drop of a hat. What happens if now he says he wants to play, we count on that and come training camp he has a change of heart. Thats' what I would fear happening and we didn't draft a DL high enough or sign anyone that could make a smooth transition from Tuitt. Nah, his heart is not in this any longer and when the pressure of the season is upon him, won't be surprised to see him walk away.

Definitely agree. Whether he comes back this year or not, you can't count on him and he will be gone after this year when his contract is up. They have to go DL in one of the 1st 2 rounds unless they pick a QB and then they have to go DL in one of the 1st 3 rounds.

 

[Fiji Mariner]

It sure would be nice to place a value on winning again. Love that the Steelers take care of their own, but damn some of these actions seem like they run a charity organization more so than a football team.

I wish my employer would give me a paid year off when I get caught up in my feelings, but they run a business and not a charity organization like the Steelers.

Maybe as a sign of good faith by Stephon he could rework the deal to be a 2 year deal getting paid a total of what he would be set to make in the coming season. I know that’s crazy, huh? Kinda like paying a guy for a year for an absolute zero return on investment.

Still rooting for my Steelers helpers of the mentally distraught charity, but would be nice to see the Pittsburgh Steelers football team re-emerge and maybe put a priority on winning football games.

 

[topseed]

It sure would be nice to place a value on winning again. Love that the Steelers take care of their own, but damn some of these actions seem like they run a charity organization more so than a football team.

So...maybe this is the Salvation Army?