Adam Schefter opened the door to a lot of conversations surrounding Mike Tomlin and the possibility of another team trading for the veteran head coach. He reported that one team had even reached out about that possibility. Just because other teams are interested, doesn’t mean the Steelers, or Tomlin, are.
Tomlin was asked what his message is to teams that might be reaching out about trading for him during his wrap-up press conference.
“I have no message,” Tomlin said Tuesday via the Steelers’ YouTube. “Save your time.”
Schefter said the one team that did reach out learned of a no-trade clause in his contract. So whether or not the Steelers are interested is irrelevant. If Tomlin doesn’t want to go, he doesn’t have to unless the Steelers terminate his contract. And it doesn’t seem like he has any interest in leaving Pittsburgh.
This is nothing different from previous years. There haven’t really been trade rumors before, but when it was time for Tomlin’s contract to be extended, there were a lot of questions last offseason about whether or not he would be stepping away from the team. He said back then that he loves his job and was as fired up as ever.
A similar situation occurred in one of the years prior where Tomlin shut down the possibility of going to be the head coach at the University of Southern California. He said there wasn’t a booster with a big enough blank check to get him to leave the Steelers.
Schefter, as well as P-G insider Gerry Dulac, have reported that the Steelers have no intentions of moving on from Tomlin. They gave him a three-year contract extension last June that keeps him with the team through 2027. Owner Art Rooney II expressed full faith in him at the time. Despite another one-and-done playoff appearance and the frustration that comes with it, Tomlin will be back for 2025.
We should hear from Rooney on the matter in just a couple weeks when he does his annual season wrap-up press conference. I am sure he will express more frustration, but don’t expect him to waver in his confidence in Tomlin.
