Mike Tomlin: Kevin Dotson Has “Done Nothing To Earn First-Team Reps”

The Pittsburgh Steelers, demoted left tackle, Kevin Dotson, to “second team” according to head coach Mike Tomlin during a press conference.

On Sunday, August 9, reporters noticed that Dotson was absent from the first team practice, during training camp. During the after-practice press conference, Steelers beat reporter Joe Rutter asked directly about why Dotson, a former starter, was working with the second team, Coach Tomlin didn’t hold back on his thoughts.

“He (Kevin Dotson) has done nothing to earn first-team reps,” Tomlin said. “What are we talking about? He’s a second-year guy who hasn’t worked.”

This is something an NFL player never wants to hear from the head coach. Tomlin pretty much just confirmed that Dotson will rarely see the field if he even does until he improves his game. Dotson started four games while filling in for injured teammates during his rookie season and the Steelers list him as a starter on their website, but he was sidelined early in camp with an ankle injury.

Newcomer Rashaad Coward will serve as the team’s new starting left tackle, and Tomlin is more pleased with the rookie than he is with Dotson. Tomlin said that Coward has done “an excellent job” and that the veteran’s “level of maturity and experience” has been a benefit to the team.

Fans will see if Tomlins’s words hold any truth on August 15 when the Steelers play the Philadelphia Eagles in an exhibition game.

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