Mike Tomlin is opening up about his decision to resign from the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons.
Speaking with NBC’s Maria Taylor during the network’s NBA pregame show on Sunday.
“It was probably not an overnight decision, but it’s probably not something I could articulate or share with people,” Tomlin said. “There’s a loneliness with leadership. I just thought it was a good time for me, personally. And what I mean by that is 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,” Tomlin continued. “There’s just some veteran players there — guys like Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt and (Chris) Boswell — that were worthy of the excitement and the optimism associated with new leadership.”
The network also officially announced that Tomlin will be joining NBC Sports’ Football Night in America as a studio analyst.
“I just thought it would be a great way to stay connected to the game and the awesome people in it — the players, the coaches, the executives,” Tomlin said. “Excited to be doing that on Sunday night and traveling to different venues and getting that feel for the environment. Lastly, I just thought it would be awesome to share insight with fellow football lovers.”
Tomlin then gave his prediction on who he thought would be the Steelers’ quarterback next season.
“Man, if you had a gun to my head, I’d say it’s (Aaron Rodgers),” Tomlin said. “Being around him for the 12 months I was around him, he’s got a love affair with the game of football. Not only the game, but the process. The informal moments. And the development of younger guys.
The connections with teammates. I think he’s got an addiction to that, and there’s only one way to feed it,” Tomlin continued. “Certainly, he is still capable and in really good shape. So I think at the end of the day, he’ll play football.”
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