Mar 22, 2016 5 min read

This is the silly time of year in the NFL. Mock drafts, visits to pro days and, of course, continued free agency movement make for a sometimes interesting, sometimes slow time of year.

With so much happening around some teams, other teams don’t get the publicity of the big-time free agent signings. And because of that, fans get restless.

So as soon as a coach, GM or scout are seen at a pro day, one and one is added up to get seven.

For example, a couple of years ago, Steelers GN Kevin Colbert was seen at Clemson. Automatically, many assumed he was scouting Tajh Boyd and that the Steelers would be taking the quarterback in the draft.

Never mind the fact that the Tigers had a number of other good players, including receivers Sammie Watkins and Martavis Bryant.

As it turned out, the Steelers not only didn’t draft Boyd, they didn’t draft a quarterback that year. They did, however, select Bryant in the fourth round of the draft. And, a year later, they signed Boyd as a free agent, cutting him in training camp because he couldn’t do something as simple as take a snap from center – or in the shotgun, for that matter.

I bring this up because every time head coach Mike Tomlin is sighted on a campus, the fan sites and mock drafters immediately put two and two together and, well, you get the idea.

Last week, the big news was that Tomlin was at Baylor. That meant he was automatically there to scout defensive tackle Andrew Billings.

Sure, Billings was probably one reason Tomlin was there. He would certainly fill a need, but I don’t know that the Steelers will burn a first-round pick on a player who might only play 30-40 percent of the time, even when he finally breaks into the starting lineup.

Billings has more pass rush ability than some of the other nose tackle prospects, but he’s not going to play in the nickel ahead of Cam Heyward or Stephon Tuitt.

But that hasn’t stopped everyone and his brother from putting Billings into play in the first round for the Steelers. And I’m not saying that he isn’t.

But isn’t it possible that Tomlin also was there to get a look at cornerback Xavien Howard, a 6-0, 200-pound corner who had nine interceptions the past two seasons?

Tomlin goes where he can get the most bang for his buck.

• Howard, by the way, is the corner that could sneak into the first round that a lot of people aren’t talking about. In fact, he’s exactly the kind of corner the Steelers like, big and physical.

He ran a 4.58 40 at the combine but was much better in his Baylor workout, reportedly timing at 4.44.

He’s probably not truly as average as his combine speed would indicate or as fast as his Baylor workout would suggest. That would put him as a 4.5ish guy, which is plenty fast enough.

• Tomlin said today that he often makes decisions late in games based on a gut feel rather than “going by the book.”

This, of course, ticked off the clock management crowd.

But no two end-of-game situations are alike.

Sometimes, you only know if your team has a chance to stop your opponent when you’re standing on the sidelines and looking into their eyes.

Sometimes, you can look across the field and get a read on what an opponent might do in certain situations.

There is no “book” on time management. The end results are all that matter.

Did you win the game? Did you give your team a chance to win the game only to lose because of poor execution?

If you answer no to either of those questions, you didn’t do it right.

If you answer yes, you probably did.

• When I wrote on this blog and posted on Twitter that Ryan Shazier’s hit on Giovanni Bernard was legal under the NFL rules at that time, I was skewered by many, particularly Bengals fans.

Of course, I was right. But don’t let that stop you from continuing to complain Bengals fans.

Under the new rules passed Tuesday at the NFL owner’s meetings, Shazier’s hit will now be illegal. It was not before.

Other than that, the modification of the horse collar and making all chop blocks illegal will be the only other things most fans will really notice.

I would have really liked to have seen the league make some kind of tweaks in the catch rule, but it just can’t seem to agree on what constitutes a catch and what does not. It should be a common sense thing, but . . .