Grimm and Steelers had Verbal Agreement (rumor)

[GTripp0012]

I'm gonna play it safe and put the rumor tag on this one, although I would more accurately classify this info as "stronger than rumor but not quite news ready."

We reported last week on the existence of rumors making the rounds at the Senior Bowl regarding the chain of events that resulted in the hiring of Mike Tomlin by the Steelers.

As the rumor went, the Steelers had offered the head-coaching job to Russ Grimm, and Grimm had accepted it. But at the last minute NFL commissioner Roger Goodell got involved, and urged Steelers chairman Dan Rooney to hire either Tomlin or Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, both of whom were minority candidates.

Per a source close to Grimm, we're now told that this is the version of the events that Grimm privately has been reciting.

Wow.

Again, we're not saying that it actually happened this way. But we are confident that Grimm thinks it happened this way, or at a minimum that Grimm is saying that it happened this way, regardless of whether he actually believes that that's the way it went down.

Source: Mike Florio, Profootballtalk.com