Mike Tomlin remains the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, entering his 19th season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But as far as new ESPN NFL analyst Peter Schrager sees it, Tomlin won’t be struggling for opportunities when his time in Pittsburgh concludes.
Former Steelers star turned ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark made headlines on Thursday’s edition of First Take when he suggested it may be time for a change in Pittsburgh, sharing his opinion that Tomlin’s voice has “run stale” in Pittsburgh.
“As great as a coach he is, and he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. I believe his voice has run stale in Pittsburgh,” said Clark.
Interestingly, it’s not the first time that Clark has called for Tomlin to move on from the Steelers. But regardless, it’s quite significant to hear Clark in particular saying this because of just how far his relationship with Tomlin dates back to, playing for him for seven of his 13 years in the NFL from 2007-2013.
Clark’s comments were discussed on Friday’s edition of Get Up, where Schrager outlined how Tomlin would not only have a majority of the league calling him about opportunities if he were to be fired by the Steelers, but he would also get calls from every network and streaming service involved in live NFL broadcasts.
“We hear it from Steelers fans. ‘You in the national media love (Mike) Tomlin. Tomlin can’t win the big one.’ Steelers fans are like, he can’t win when it matters,” said Schrager. “I see Ryan (Clark) saying this. And to your point Dan (Graziano), this isn’t coming from some talking head. Ryan Clark is a beloved Steeler who is very close with Mike Tomlin. So I see that, and that’s why this gets attention, when you say the word stale.
“That being said, he is still the loudest voice in the building. And if he were to leave Pittsburgh, and he would have to be fired, because I don’t think it would be able to go contractually this way. There would be a line of probably 15 teams. And guess what, there would be a line of not only 4 broadcast networks, but 11 streamers, whoever else the NFL Commissioner is doing upfronts for, could get him on a broadcast crew. So Mike Tomlin would still be the number one target in the offseason if he were to ever leave Pittsburgh.”
Tomlin has long been considered one of the top candidates to go directly from the sidelines to the broadcast booth once his coaching career comes to an end. So it’s not entirely shocking that Schrager thinks that there is already significant interest there from networks.
Still, most have largely assumed that Tomlin would eventually transition to broadcasting on his own terms and not because the Steelers organization wanted to go in a different direction. When you consider the fact that Tomlin hasn’t had a losing record in his 18-year tenure in Pittsburgh, he doesn’t exactly jump off the page as someone who should be on the hot seat.
That being said, if the Steelers again fail to make much noise in the postseason this coming season, it will be interesting to see whether broadcast networks and streamers make a bigger push at luring Tomlin from the sidelines.