The Pittsburgh Steelers just acquired veteran inside linebacker Joe Schobert vias a trade with the Jacksonville jaguars and while the newest player was present at Heinz Field on Saturday, he only watched practice as a spectator. After Saturday’s practice ended, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin announced that Schobert would start practicing with his new team on Sunday. Tomlin also gave his thoughts on the newly acquired inside linebacker after Saturday’s practice.
“We’re excited about having him,” Tomlin said of Schobert. “Productivity when I think of Joe, man. He needs no endorsement from me. We’re familiar with him. Former AFC North guy, been highly productive in every circumstance that he’s been in. He’s a sideline-to-sideline tackler. He’s good in coverage. He has coverage production in terms of interceptions. He has sack production. He plays a well-rounded game and so we’re excited about infusing him into what we do.”
Tomlin was asked if the team has been actively looking for another veteran inside linebacker since Vince Williams decided to retire a few weeks ago or if the deal for Schobert just sort of surfaced.
“It was available,” Tomlin said. “It presented itself to us, but it didn’t take us long to consider it because we’re highly familiar with his skill set and productivity.”
While Schobert is now expected to start alongside Devin Bush in the Steelers defense, Tomlin wouldn’t speculate as to the roles those two players will have in the Steelers defense beyond that.
“You know, I’m not ready to speculate at this juncture,” Tomlin said. “We’ve got some work in front of us and, you know, they’ll determine division of labor with their quality of work, as it should be.”
