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On an NBC Sports conference call with reporters Wednesday, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he has not given any thought to coaching again. The call came eight days after Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that there is “zero correlation” between what a team pays its coach and whether it wins.
Tomlin, 54, is in his first season as a studio analyst on NBC’s Football Night in America. He stepped away from the Steelers in January after 19 seasons, following a playoff loss to the Houston Texans. Mark Maske of Front Office Sports first reported his comments.
Front Office Sports asked the question on the call. Twelve days earlier, NBC had declined an interview request from the outlet on Tomlin’s behalf for its report on his coaching prospects.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Tomlin said. “Haven’t given one iota of thought about coaching. I’m sure that, you know, some of that’s going to come up in the not-too-distant future. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Really haven’t thought a lot about it. Really excited about my new role and working to get better each and every week.”
Tomlin never had a losing season with the Steelers. Pittsburgh reached the playoffs 13 times under him and won one of its two Super Bowl appearances. The Steelers’ last playoff win came in the 2016 season.
Steelers coach Mike McCarthy, who coached the Cowboys from 2020 through 2024, replaced him. Dallas let McCarthy go when his contract expired after the 2024 season and promoted Brian Schottenheimer, then its offensive coordinator, to head coach in January 2025.
Tomlin’s studio work has come on site at NFL stadiums this season. His halftime segments run one-on-one with host Maria Taylor instead of on a shared desk.
“I’ve been enjoying the challenge of the new work,” Tomlin explained. “I’ve got a great team. Having a lot of fun with my coworkers. And it’s awesome to be as close to the game as I am and … observe the game from a global perspective.
“I think when you’re coaching, you block out a lot of the peripheral things … during the course of the NFL season,” Tomlin continued. “It’s been fun to really enjoy observing it … from a football lover’s perspective. And so I’m thoroughly enjoying it. But … it’s also fun to be challenged.”
Mike Tomlin’s NBC Contract And Pittsburgh Steelers Option
Front Office Sports reported Oct. 30 that Tomlin is expected to be in extremely high demand as an NFL head coaching candidate, but that it is not considered automatic he would leave NBC for a big-money offer. The financial terms of his NBC deal are not public. The outlet reported that the contract is believed to be lucrative by industry standards and that Tomlin is barred from moving to another network as a broadcaster for its duration, but permitted to return to coaching.
Pittsburgh may still hold his rights. The Steelers announced a three-year extension for Tomlin in June 2024 that reportedly ran through this season with a team option for 2027, and Front Office Sports reported it is not clear whether that option has been exercised. If it has, a team hiring Tomlin could have to compensate the Steelers.
The Denver Broncos sent first- and second-round picks to the New Orleans Saints, and got a third-round pick back, when they hired Sean Payton in January 2023. Payton had spent the 2022 season as a Fox studio analyst while still under contract in New Orleans.
A high-ranking official with one NFL team spoke to Front Office Sports for the Oct. 30 report. The official was not named in the report.
“He will clearly be at the top of the list for any team that has an opening,” the official said. “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 of those connected to the league’s hiring process told the outlet they suspect the New York Jets and Washington Commanders could be among the teams to pursue Tomlin if they make coaching changes. The Cowboys were not named in that report.
Mike Florio’s Speculation On The Dallas Cowboys And Jerry Jones’ Coach Pay Comments
In a column on Tomlin’s comments Wednesday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk listed his own teams to watch: the Jets, the Indianapolis Colts, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Carolina Panthers. Florio wrote that the list was his own and that he came up with it off the top of his head.
Florio named the Panthers as the team to watch most closely. He wrote that owner David Tepper, who previously owned a piece of the Steelers, is widely believed to be very interested in Tomlin. Florio also wrote that Jets owner Woody Johnson may become motivated by the hire of New York Giants coach John Harbaugh, Tomlin’s former AFC North rival with the Baltimore Ravens. Harbaugh signed a five-year deal worth about $100 million with the Giants, according to Front Office Sports.
The Cowboys would make Florio’s list “if owner and G.M. Jerry Jones was truly willing to write the check,” he wrote, adding that Jones made it clear last week that he is not. Florio estimated the top of the coaching market at about $25 million per year and wrote that it would likely take $30 million or more annually to get Tomlin’s attention. Those figures are Florio’s estimates. Neither Florio nor Maske reported any contact between Tomlin and the Cowboys, and Tomlin did not mention Dallas or any other team on Wednesday’s call.
Jones made his first comments on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Dallas had lost 33-30 in overtime to the Arizona Cardinals two days earlier.
“In the NFL, this is after years of looking at all the teams and all the coaches,” Jones said, “there is zero correlation between how much you pay a coach or how many coaches you have [on staff] as to winning. There is no correlation. And that’s a random sample of years and all 32 teams involved. So, put that in your hopper and smoke it.”
Coaching salaries are not public. The Athletic estimated Schottenheimer’s salary at between $5 million and $8 million per year and reported that the league’s highest-paid coaches average $20 million per season.
Jones returned to the station Friday, Nov. 6, two days before the Cowboys played at Indianapolis.
“No one will ever know if I’ve ever been interested in somebody that at the time was known to have, let’s say, a substantive financial marketplace,” Jones explained. “The facts are I have been out there, and I have been trying to lure very successful coaches away from the teams they were on. And I knew full well that I was going to pay them for all their success. So that has been done. No one knows that. But I do.
“I actually grin when somebody says, ‘Jerry’s not willing to pay the money for what it would take to get the right kind of coach out there,’” Jones continued.
Jones then pointed to his investments in oil wells. “I have five [wells] that cost more than any [NFL] coach I know of, each one of them,” Jones said.
Tomlin has discussed the Cowboys on NBC this season. During the network’s Sunday night halftime show on Sept. 27, hours after Dallas lost 34-31 to the Ravens in Brazil on a 56-yard field goal on the final play, he called the Cowboys’ end-of-game approach “somewhat negligent,” Front Office Sports reported.
“It was seven seconds left to go in regulation; they kick a touchback,” Tomlin said. “Baltimore gets the ball on the 35-yard-line.”
Tomlin added that he was “really surprised” Dallas played man-to-man defense on Baltimore’s final completion. “Most people in these circumstances are going to play what we call umbrella zones,” Tomlin said.
Dallas is 4-5 after a 27-23 win at Indianapolis on Sunday.
The Cowboys host the San Francisco 49ers at 3:25 p.m. CT Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Tomlin and NBC’s crew will be in Cincinnati that night for the Steelers’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals at 7:20 p.m. CT. First place in the AFC North is at stake.
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