Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was in favor of his team signing Michael Vick after he was released from prison in 2009, according to Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette.
While the Steelers were enjoying terrific success with Ben Roethlisberger, Tomlin believed he could use the talents of Vick to make the offense more dangerous.
As Bouchette points out, Tomlin wasn't able to acquire Vick for two main reasons:
Two things prevented Tomlin from bringing Vick to Pittsburgh. The main reason was the Rooneys were dead set against it. They had no desire to bring on a felon, just out of prison, and all the negative reaction his signing would bring, both internally and externally. Plus, the Steelers were reigning Super Bowl champs.
Bouchette then talks about the timing of it all back in 2009, when Roethlisberger was trying to fend off a civil suit for alleged rape. Tomlin didn't feel the time was right to add a player such as Vick to the quarterback depth chart.
"Given some of the things that my quarterback was going through, I didn't think it was the appropriate time to add another quarterback to the mix," Tomlin told NBC-TV’s Bob Costas that year.