Retour
Ever since stepping down as the Pittsburgh Steelers coach in January, Mike Tomlin has established himself as one of the most insightful analysts on NBC Sports’ “Football Night in America.” The Super Bowl-winning coach has been linked with several top jobs in the league so far this season, making him the most in-demand candidate available on the market.
This week, NFL insider Mike Florio broke down several potential landing spots for the former Steelers coach.
In an article published on Wednesday, Florio suggested that the Carolina Panthers are the team to watch in the Tomlin sweepstakes.
“The one to watch most closely is the Panthers. Owner David Tepper, who previously owned a piece of the Steelers, is widely believed to be very interested in Tomlin,” Florio wrote. “The Jets make sense, too; with the Giants reaping the instant benefit of hiring Tomlin’s former arch rival, John Harbaugh, Jets owner Woody Johnson may become motivated to do whatever it takes to get Tomlin.”
Florio also listed the Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, and Dallas Cowboys as teams to watch for Tomlin as a potential landing spot. However, he dismissed the Cowboys, who rank last on PFN’s Defense Impact Metric, as a serious option because franchise owner and general manager, Jerry Jones, is reluctant to pay top dollar for the best coaches on the market.
The NFL insider further speculated that it would take a mammoth $30 million annual salary to even tempt Tomlin back into coaching, making him the highest-paid coach in the league.
Front Office Sports reporter Mark Maske reported Tomlin’s answer to questions about potentially returning to coaching during an NBC conference call on Wednesday.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Tomlin said. “Haven’t given one iota of thought about coaching. I’m sure that, you know, some of that’s going to come up in the not-too-distant future. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Really haven’t thought a lot about it. Really excited about my new role and working to get better each and every week.”
In 19 seasons in Pittsburgh, Tomlin established himself as one of the league’s premier coaches, notching the most consecutive non-losing seasons to begin a coaching career (19) and winning the Super Bowl in 2009.
Tomlin is still the second-youngest coach ever to win a Super Bowl, behind Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, but his teams struggled in the playoffs during his sunset years in Pittsburgh.
After the Steelers’ 30-6 Wild Card Round loss to the Houston Texans, Tomlin tied Marvin Lewis for the most consecutive playoff losses in league history (7), with Pittsburgh’s last playoff win coming during the 2016 season.
When Tomlin stepped down, he had a commendable 193-114-2 regular-season record and an 8-12 postseason record, accounting for the outsized interest in his services.