Brooke PryorApr 26, 2026, 08:07 PM ETCloseBrooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and the University of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Stephen A. credits Mike Tomlin for knowing it was time to step down (2:34)Stephen A. Smith explains why it was the right time for Mike Tomlin to step down as Pittsburgh Steelers coach. (2:34)
“It’s probably not an overnight decision,” Tomlin told Taylor during an interview that aired Sunday night. “But it’s probably not something that I could articulate or share with people. There’s a loneliness with leadership. I just thought it was a good time for me, personally. And by that, I mean just where I am in life. And I thought it was a good time for the organization, to be quite honest with you. We didn’t have a lot of success in the playoffs in recent years.”
In the interview, NBC officially announced that Tomlin was joining the network as an analyst on its Sunday night pregame show, “Football Night in America.” Typically a studio show, “Football Night in America” will be on location at stadiums each week throughout the coming season, which means if the Steelers are in the Sunday night prime-time slot, Tomlin almost certainly would be on hand.
In his first piece of analysis for NBC, Tomlin says he believes Aaron Rodgers — who has yet to announce whether he will play this season — will be the Steelers’ quarterback in 2026.
Tomlin was a bystander to the just-completed NFL draft for the first time in two decades. Instead of sitting in a war room, he said he watched it from a cigar bar with some friends.
“Supposedly watching the draft, but you start telling war stories and so forth, the draft’s watching you,” Tomlin said with a laugh. “But it was fun to watch it through a different lens. And when you’re not on the clock, you can just appreciate what a significant moment that is for the young people. And so to watch those guys get drafted, man, and live out a component of their dreams. Now we all know now the work starts, but that was a big night for those guys and it’s just fun to just watch it from that perspective.”
Stephen A. credits Mike Tomlin for knowing it was time to step down (2:34)Stephen A. Smith explains why it was the right time for Mike Tomlin to step down as Pittsburgh Steelers coach. (2:34)
Stephen A. Smith explains why it was the right time for Mike Tomlin to step down as Pittsburgh Steelers coach. (2:34)
Brooke PryorApr 26, 2026, 08:07 PM ETCloseBrooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and the University of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseBrooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and the University of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.Follow on X
In his first interview since he resigned as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in February, Mike Tomlin told NBC’s Maria Taylor that he walked away, in part, because of the recent lack of playoff success and a belief that some of his veterans were “worthy of the excitement and the optimism associated with new leadership.”
The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016.