Pittsburgh Steelers rookie nose tackle Alameda Ta\’amu was present at the team facility on Monday and issued an apology to his teammates following his Sunday morning arrest, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Outside of a short statement released by the team on Sunday, the front office hasn\’t had anything else to say about the incident that ended with Ta\’amu being arrested and charged with several felonies and misdemeanors.
A few players did talk to the media about Ta\’amu on Monday and safety Ryan Clark was one of them.
“You don\’t ‘Amen\’ this as in it is OK to do, but you don\’t throw him away,” Clark said. “You don\’t exile him from the team, you don\’t stop talking to him, you don\’t stop being his friend because if you are family, you don\’t do that. I want to help him through this and help him be part of the Pittsburgh Steelers and, if that\’s possible, when he\’s back, he is going to be the same brother before this happened.”
Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin are likely still gathering information about the incident at this time and thus the future of the Washington product still remains up in the air.
Ta\’amu has yet to dress for a game this season and won\’t anytime soon, assuming he his on the team past Tuesday. A few teammates mentioned on Monday how out of character the actions of Ta\’amu were, but an incident of this magnitude is not easily ignored and it is not yet known if the rookie nose tackle will have to serve jail time or not.
The Steelers might have to make a roster move this week because of the injuries to Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert and you have to think that the name of Ta\’amu is being discussed as a player the team could release to open up a roster spot.
Tomlin is scheduled to meet the media on Tuesday and he can expect to be asked several questions regarding Ta\’amu during his press conference.
