Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been subject to trade rumors since the team’s sixth straight playoff loss. The Chicago Bears have already been named as a team interested in Tomlin, but Adam Schefter of ESPN revealed they aren’t the only ones.
Schefter reported on Monday of another unnamed team that reached out to the Steelers to see if they would be willing to move on from Tomlin.
“Another team just kind of checked into it, peripherally, to see what the situation was,” Schefter said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “They were told that he’s got a no-trade clause that he doesn’t want to move on from. That was the end of that conversation.”
Schefter didn’t go on to name the second team that tried to trade for Tomlin, but it doesn’t seem to matter because the Steelers answer was the same as it was for the Bears.
“It was a pretty short conversation because they reached out to the Steelers, and the Steelers have no interest in moving on from Mike Tomlin,” Schefter said. “As he himself said last week to any teams that would approach the Steelers about a potential trade, he said, ‘Save your time.’”
Still, it doesn’t hurt for head coach-needy teams to at least try to see if there’s any chance in acquiring Tomlin. While Steelers fans are desiring more than just first-round playoff exits, many teams who have struggled to even make the playoffs would gladly take Tomlin off their hands.
That seems far from a likely scenario at this point, but in the unforeseen case that the Steelers do change their minds, those who have already reached out will have an upper hand at landing the 18-year head coach who has never had a losing season.
“I think it’s smart for teams to at least make the call,” Schefter said. “If it’s a five-minute call and they say, ‘No, thank you,’ fine. But who knows if they would ever have any indecision there or second thoughts that they’d be open to that conversation.”