Steelers Now
Television higher-ups had been waiting for Tuesday for a long time. With Mike Tomlin having turned in his headset and whistle to the Pittsburgh Steelers, many are wondering if he’ll spend some time in front of the cameras.
ESPN’s Michael Wilbon believes Tomlin would be a fantastic addition to NFL panels.
“Going back to when there were the boos, when Mike Tomlin was booed and people suggested, fans in Pittsburgh, that he be fired, I remember thinking then, ‘Mike Tomlin needs this? Really? He needs this?'” Wilbon said Tuesday on “Pardon the Interruption.” “I know he makes a lot of money … but he could make more than that in TV. That’s where I expect him to go.
“Mike Tomlin can reset television as a form of entertainment, football as a form of entertainment on television in a way that no one has since John Madden. And that may be new ways we don’t know about, it may be one of the existing ways with an existing network or platform. I don’t know, I’m not a television executive. But Mike Tomlin, who you have loved to hear talk and talk to for 20 years, you know Mike Tomlin would be great at that.”
What're your thoughts on Mike Tomlin stepping down? pic.twitter.com/BL1j5NYHQc
— PTI (@PTI) January 13, 2026
If one thing seems certain, it’s that Tomlin won’t be strolling on an NFL sideline next season.
“Mike indicated that he did not anticipate coaching at least in the near future,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said during a press conference on Wednesday. “I think he wants to spend time with his family and do some of the kinds of things he hasn’t been able to do for the last many, many years. If something like that comes up, we’ll deal with it when it comes up, but right now, that doesn’t seem to be on his radar.”
Tomlin’s predecessor, Bill Cowher, has been an analyst for CBS since 2007, the same year he stepped down as the Steelers’ head coach.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Is Mike Tomlin the NFL’s Next TV Star?
