Mike Tomlin
Mike Tomlin
The New York Jets are in need of a complete culture change, and they haven’t been able to find it despite trying with five different head coaches since 2018. According to one insider, Jets ownership thinks it may have found its next target in former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
“Numerous well-placed league sources close to NFL ownership groups—including teams whose current coaches are under fire—state that preliminary groundwork for a potential pursuit of NBC’s Mike Tomlin is already underway in East Rutherford,” Jason La Canfora wrote via Casino.org.
It’s a convenient courtship behind the scenes with Mike Tomlin’s new job as an NBC broadcaster being located just a short drive away from the Jets facility. Owner Woody Johnson publicly took a step back to let new leadership do its job last year, but he’s stepping back in to potentially land one of the most respected coaches in pro sports.
“Woody is starting to ask a lot of questions; he’s doing his homework on Tomlin,” an exec with close ties to Johnson told La Canfora. “This one has legs. I’m telling you. He knows how steep the competition will be. You are going to hear a lot about the Jets.”
Money wouldn’t be an object in the Big Apple as Johnson is one of the wealthiest owners in the league with an estimated net worth of over $11 billion. Even if the Jets job doesn’t sound like an ideal scenario for Tomlin’s re-entry into the league after a decade of playoff futility in Pittsburgh, Johnson is of making him a financial offer that would be hard to refuse.
Tomlin’s move into the media is just beginning with his debut earlier this preseason, and he seems content with his new lifestyle for now. But he often spoke about his marriage to the sport and his love of everything that goes into it. He wouldn’t be the first coach to take a one-year detour into the media before re-joining the NFL head coaching ranks.
Andrew Marchand reported that Tomlin’s deal with NBC is backloaded precisely because the network figured he could get lured back to the league and it wanted to de-incentivize him from doing so. That would only serve as a bargaining chip for Tomlin, who could command a historic head coach contract that sets a new high bar for the job title.
La Canfora suggests the hiring of Tomlin could be paired with a separate franchise-altering move, possibly targeting a big-name player like Lamar Jackson. That would be something to behold.
The Steelers stand to potentially benefit in this situation. It’s not 100-percent clear how his remaining contract with the team works, but because he stepped away and wasn’t fired the Steelers may still hold his rights. Luring Tomlin back to the NFL has potential to net the Steelers a big trade opportunity. If a team like the Jets want him bad enough, the draft capital involved could be significant.
Expect this to be a big storyline starting in January, or even slightly before if Aaron Glenn’s seat gets hot toward the end of the season.