PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to allow Mike Tomlin to be their head coach until he doesn’t want to be there anymore. Everyone believes that’ll be when he chooses to retire. If you ask Mike Tomlin, himself, he’d let you know that. But if you ask an anonymous general manager, they don’t.
Speaking with Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post, one NFL general manager said he believes Tomlin is eventually going to leave Pittsburgh for a new organization. No one knows which one, although the Washington Commanders, Los Angeles Chargers and even New York Jets have been linked to him in the past, but he’s eventually going to leave the Steelers.
“I think Rodgers brings it all to a head, doesn’t it,” the GM said. “Obviously, Rodgers is his guy. You can’t put that on Omar. Tomlin put his program on hold for this quarterback. Mike’s been there forever. At some point, he’s going to be coaching somewhere else. Look at Andy Reid.”
For yet another year, the Tomlin leaving nonsense has started. But with each passing year, it’s becoming more and more of a show and less of a rumor to believe. Tomlin has made his thoughts more than clear many times, and there’s almost nothing to show otherwise.
For anyone sitting in the room when he said there’s no “blank booster check” big enough to get him to go to USC, or the countless times he’s ignored questions about leaving for teams like the Commanders, there’s just nothing left to believe in him leaving.
Tomlin is going to coach the Steelers until he doesn’t want to coach anymore. He’s under a three-year contract and will likely sign another in two years. Unless the team suddenly drops off and they just can’t find any success, the most likely outcome will remain him staying.
Not everyone wants him to stay. There are plenty of fans sitting around year after year, hoping he’d leave. But the 19-year head coach has never had a losing season and remains one of the most respected coaches in football.
His and team President Art Rooney II’s relationship only grows stronger by the year, and with a new GM in Omar Khan being a little more aggressive, the two seem ready to build a Super Bowl roster. They may have one this year.
Don’t count on Tomlin leaving anytime soon. He’s not the next Andy Reid. No matter how many times anonymous general managers want to say he is.
