Adam Schefter: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin could pull a Sean Payton after playoffs

The Pittsburgh Steelers are playoff-bound for the first time since 2021, but the big news of the morning centers around their head coach, Mike Tomlin.

Art Rooney II chose not to renew Tomlin’s contract with one year remaining as he typically does. Rumor has it that it will be done this offseason.

But now it’s become a question of whether Tomlin will actually want to continue his coaching career in Pittsburgh.

“They’re not firing Mike Tomlin,” Adam Schefter said on Sunday’s ESPN NFL Countdown. “But here’s the thing that’s interesting: He’s got a year left on his contract. And there are some people around the league who believe Mike Tomlin could decide to take some time off like Sean Payton did.”

In 2022, Payton walked away from the New Orleans Saints with three seasons left on his contract. He took a gig as a broadcaster on Fox for a season before joining the Denver Broncos as their head coach in 2023.

“Mike Tomlin gets to dictate what happens here, not the Pittsburgh Steelers,” said Schefter. “They’re not firing him, he’s staying on, but he’s staying on if he wants to. If he decides that he’d like to walk, well, that’s a different subject. And maybe there’s a team out there, he’s from Washington, his wife loves Los Angeles, maybe one of them wants to lob a call into the Steelers to see if they could wind up doing something with him.”

I call B.S. It sounds like Schefter is grasping at straws here, as he has no hard facts to support his statement. Literally anyone can (and has) made things up just for the sake of a story, and a line like “there are some people around the league…” reeks of just that.

Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire