ESPN NFL Insiders weigh in on where Mike Tomlin stands with Steelers amid quarterback uncertainty

Anything could get old after almost two decades. ‘Get Up’ just doesn’t know if that yet applies to Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming off of comments this week by Ryan Clark.

Clark spoke about the Steelers again on ‘First Take’ on Thursday, saying he thinks Tomlin has maybe “run stale there” with the franchise. On Friday, Dominique Foxworth and Dan Graziano began by disagreeing with him on the stale portion of the take considering that Pittsburgh continues to post winning seasons regardless of their roster. They can see where he’s coming from, though, as far as the state of the team at this point of his tenure, especially with no actual solution at quarterback still.

“I think the simple answer to Mike Tomlin moving to a new situation is he needs a quarterback. If that new situation includes a quarterback? By all means, go for it. Or, if you can get a quarterback in Pittsburgh, I think that Mike Tomlin will be just fine there,” said Foxworth. “Obviously, we all respect what Ryan Clark said and what his insight might be in the Steelers’ organization but there’s no evidence that Mike Tomlin’s message has gotten stale in Pittsburgh, at least not by the records they put out based on the talent that we’ve seen.”

“I think it’s interesting that it’s Ryan saying it because of his close ties to Tomlin and the organization. And it’s interesting because I’ve heard Ryan say it before. I was sitting right here. It was either at the end of last year or the year before and it’s an interesting point. It just, I agree with Dominique,” Graziano said. “I think the Steelers are getting as much, if not more, out of their rosters year after year as can be expected given the quareterback situation and the overall talent on the roster…I think the Steelers in the last couple years have kind of overachieved. I know the fans don’t want to hear it.”

Peter Schrager spoke up at that point in agreeing with all three of those colleagues. He thinks it’s of note that this is coming from Clark as a former Steeler himself. That said, he also says Tomlin must not be that stale yet as about half the league, along with networks in the media too, would want him if he were available after 18 years, going on 19 years in Pittsburgh.

“We’re in the national media and we always hear, like, ‘You in the national media love Tomlin! Tomlin can’t win the big one!’, Steelers fans are like, ‘He doesn’t win! He doesn’t win when it matters!’. So, I see Ryan saying this and I, to your point – this isn’t coming from some talking head. Ryan Clark is a beloved Steeler who is very close with Mike Tomlin. So, I see that? That’s why this gets attention when you see the word stale,” said Schrager. “That said, he still is the loudest voice in the building and, if he were to leave Pittsburgh? And, he would have to be fired because I don’t think it would be able to go contractually this way. (But) there would be a line of probably 15 teams to hire him. And, guess what? There would be a line of not only four broadcast networks but eleven streamers – whoever else, the NFL commissioner – to get him on a broadcast crew. So, Tomlin would still be the number one target in the offseason if he were to ever leave Pittsburgh.”

Mike Greenberg also made one last point on that word of stale. The Steelers may be tired of being just good enough with that streak of consecutive seasons at .500 or better as, since 2017, they’ve won no more than eight, nine, or ten games in six of those and, in all of them, either not made the playoffs or not advanced out of the Wild Card. Still, Greenberg wanted to remind them that’s a lot better than being nothing at all.

“They’ll be relevant. That’s what I think is the point. They’re relevant every single year. And, relevant has not been their issue,” said Greenberg. “People get tired of relevance and I always say to the Steeler fans, you know what the opposite of relevance is? Be careful what you wish for because it’s not fun being irrelevant, I will tell you that.”

Again, there’s a point made here as the past seven seasons or so have been little more than just alright for Pittsburgh. However, that doesn’t mean Tomlin is necessarily done there yet either based on what he has accomplished, with his circumstances, as head coach of the Steelers.