The speculation surrounding Mike Tomlin and his future with the Pittsburgh Steelers isn’t going anywhere. While the Steelers currently hold the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoff race and lead the AFC North, there are many who believe that he would welcome a change of scenery in 2026, or could even take a break from football altogether.
Among those who have that line of thinking is Bleacher Report NFL insider James Palmer, who says he thinks Tomlin could take the year off.
“I could see Tomlin taking a breather,”
Palmer said via Jack Markowski of Steelers on SI. “Some people around the league believe he just looks tired. And potentially going into the media for a year. I think everybody would have him, in all honesty. I can kind of see that being the case [in terms of] what happens with Mike Tomlin.”
This would be very similar to what Sean Payton did. He retired as the New Orleans Saints head coach, worked as an analyst at Fox for a year, and was then traded to the Denver Broncos. If Tomlin wants to just reset for a year and then go elsewhere, it could look very similar to Payton’s route to Denver.
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