Mike Tomlin’s name came up in a wild trade rumor ahead of Week 18, as ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter told host Mike Greenberg that he believes certain teams with head coaching vacancies could call the Pittsburgh Steelers about a trade for the veteran HC, let’s say his team is eliminated by the Baltimore Ravens in the wildcard round.
On January 6, Schefter addressed those rumors while speaking with the Pat McAfee Show.
“I know that we talked about it on Sunday Countdown, raised the idea that a couple of teams were pondering [a trade for Tomlin],” Schefter acknowledged, adding: “And I think one team actually looked into it and uncovered the fact that his contract has a no-trade clause in it.”
“So, even if Pittsburgh wanted to trade him — [and] we’ve gotten zero indication that it does — they couldn’t do that without his permission because he’s got a no-trade clause in his contract,” the insider explained. “Again, that doesn’t stop teams… [from] calling up a team [to] say, ‘would your organization have any interest in listening to conversations?’”
Schefter finished by relaying that the Steelers don’t “seem to be interested” in that sort of move at this time, even if Tomlin were to agree to it.