Mike Tomlin Could Be Hottest NFL Coaching Candidate—If He Wants Back

Mike Tomlin is expected to be in extremely high demand as an NFL head coaching candidate in the coming months, but it’s not considered automatic that he would leave his broadcasting job at NBC to accept a big-money coaching offer, sources tell Front Office Sports.

It’s believed that Tomlin’s contract with NBC would allow him to depart the network for an NFL coaching job. But other factors, such as the demands of coaching as compared to those in his promising broadcasting career, are expected to receive consideration, according to those sources.

Tomlin, 54, has made a seamless transition from coach to broadcaster. He stepped away from the Steelers after never having a losing season in 19 years as their head coach, and immediately has drawn praise in his first half-season of work as a studio analyst for NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcasts.

Soon, the issue will become: Would he be willing to try to make an equally seamless transition back to coaching if an NFL team comes calling after this season? Or what if it’s a half-dozen or so teams bidding against one another?

Tomlin’s availability—or lack thereof—will be the biggest consideration for teams during the NFL’s next firing-and-hiring cycle for coaches.

“Tomlin is enjoying TV for now,” one NFL agent not involved in Tomlin’s representation told FOS. “But let’s see if they throw him a bag.”

For now, Tomlin isn’t saying, at least not publicly. He was not available to comment, and NBC declined an interview request by FOS on his behalf.

“He will clearly be at the top of the list for any team that has an opening,” a high-ranking official with one NFL team told FOS recently. “If he’s willing to come back, that could cause a team or two to create an opening. It’s a call that you have to make if you’re looking for a coach.”

Some Tomlin associates caution, however, that he is making good money at NBC and, while he is diligently putting in the work needed to keep improving as a broadcaster, he doesn’t face the pressure, stress, and suffocating time demands of coaching. He doesn’t have the expectation of winning every Sunday, they say, and he has the time to do things in his personal life that for decades in coaching he didn’t have the time to do.

“Money has nothing to do with this,” one source told FOS. “… Of course [NFL teams] are going to offer him stuff. The question is: Is he having a good time doing what he’s doing and is he good at it?”

Tomlin exited from the Steelers in the aftermath of their lopsided playoff loss to the Texans in January. Some fans had grown increasingly frustrated in recent years with the Steelers’ postseason failures. Their last playoff win came in the 2016 season.

Even so, Tomlin is a highly accomplished coach. He led the Steelers to the playoffs 13 times. He reached the Super Bowl twice and won it once. He never had a season worse than 8–8.

The financial terms of his contract with NBC are not publicly known. But it’s believed that the deal is lucrative by industry standards and that, while Tomlin is barred from moving to another network as a broadcaster for the duration of his NBC contract, he is permitted to return to coaching if he opts to do so.

NBC declined to comment.

Tomlin has been on site in stadiums for his studio work. The Eagles face the Commanders in Landover, Md., on NBC this Sunday night.

His insight, candor, and unique phrasing have carried over from his coaching days and have made him an immediate star in broadcasting.

“The early stages of your tenure, you’ve really got to establish a rapport with your team. And sometimes that means killing a mosquito with an ax, as we say in the business,” Tomlin said on the NBC halftime show in describing the moves made by his former AFC North coaching rival, John Harbaugh, with the Giants. “And by that, I mean an overreaction, just so your group knows that you mean business.”

The Ravens fired Harbaugh, their former Super Bowl-winning coach, after last season. He signed a five-year, approximately $100 million deal with the Giants, with the provision that he reports directly to ownership rather than to general manager Joe Schoen. He has the Giants in first place in the NFC East as the season nears the halfway point, even after losing quarterback Jaxson Dart to a knee injury that will keep him sidelined at least through the regular season.

Tomlin would have similar leverage and would be the most coveted candidate available, just as Harbaugh was last offseason.

Pittsburgh Speed Bump?

One potential issue would be his contract with the Steelers. The team announced in June 2024 that it had signed Tomlin to a three-year extension through the 2027 season. The deal reportedly was structured to run through this season with a team option for the ’27 season. It’s not clear whether that option has been exercised. The Steelers did not respond to a request by FOS seeking clarification.

Thus, the Steelers potentially could still hold Tomlin’s contractual rights and could force another NFL team seeking to hire him to compensate them in what amounts to a coaching trade.

The Broncos compensated the Saints with first- and second-round draft picks, while getting a third-round choice in return, when they hired Sean Payton as their coach in January 2023. Payton had remained under contract to the Saints after stepping away from his job in New Orleans and spending the 2022 season out of coaching as a studio analyst for Fox.

Payton, a Super Bowl-winning coach with the Saints, began his Broncos tenure with a losing season in 2023. But he reached the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and had the team in the AFC Championship Game last season. The Broncos are off to a 5–2 start this season.

So his success, like Harbaugh’s, reinforces to NFL teams and their owners that pursuing a coach as respected as Tomlin may be well worth the effort.

Other notable coaching “trades” in NFL history involved Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Jon Gruden, Mike Holmgren, and Herman Edwards.

It can’t be assumed that Tomlin will follow Payton’s path and make a return to coaching after just one season away, though. Tomlin’s coaching predecessor in Pittsburgh, Bill Cowher, has remained in broadcasting on the CBS studio show despite the once-widespread belief that he would return to coaching at some point. Other prominent coaches such as John Madden, Steve Mariucci, and Rex Ryan also stayed away from coaching to remain in broadcasting.

“You never know,” a former NFL head coach told FOS. “I generally believe that coaches coach. But there are exceptions. You don’t lose any games in the [broadcast] booth.”

Ten NFL teams hired new head coaches last offseason, including the Steelers hiring Mike McCarthy to replace Tomlin and the Ravens hiring Jesse Minter to replace Harbaugh.

It’s not yet clear how many teams will change coaches during this cycle. No team has fired its head coach yet during this season. But there has been speculation about the job security of coaches such as the Commanders’ Dan Quinn, the Colts’ Shane Steichen, the Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh, the Jets’ Aaron Glenn, and the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni.

Some of those connected to the league-wide hiring process say they suspect the Jets and Commanders could be among the teams to pursue Tomlin if they indeed make coaching changes, while adding that there undoubtedly would be other franchises in that chase as well if Tomlin indicates a willingness to listen.