Mike Tomlin resigned from the Steelers on Jan. 13, stepping away after 19 seasons with a 175-word statement. On Thursday, he made his first public comments since leaving.
Tomlin and his wife, Kiya, were honored with the Patricia R. Rooney Community Impact Award at the Ireland Funds Gala. His acceptance was a little over a minute.
“It’s often said we’re not here for a long time; we’re here for a good time. Like you have to choose,” Tomlin said, via video from Brooke Pryor of ESPN, “and I think our experience here in Pittsburgh and with the great Steelers organization exemplifies that: We were here for a long and really good time.
“It’s been an honor to serve the greatest organization in sports. It’s been an honor to be a part of this great community, to call it home, for our kids to call it home. We’re in somewhat of a nomadic business, and so we don’t take that for granted, and our kids get an opportunity to call Pittsburgh home. It’s been an honor to serve the community in which we live, the values that we hold, and it will continue.”
The Steelers replaced Tomlin with Mike McCarthy.
Free agent fullback Connor Heyward has agreed to terms with the Raiders on a two-year deal, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports. The deal has a maximum value of $5.5 million with $2 million fully guaranteed.
The Steelers sought the return of Heyward, but he instead will join Klint Kubiak’s offensive in Las Vegas.
Pittsburgh made Heyward a sixth-round pick in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons there. He played all 68 possible games, seeing action on 874 offensive snaps and 1,124 on special teams.
He has 62 touches for 449 yards and five touchdowns in his career.
Heyward has also made 28 tackles and recovered a fumble.
The Bears will now be without both of their starting safeties from 2025.
Via NFL Media, the Steelers have agreed to terms with Jaquan Brisker. It’s a one-year, $5.5 million deal.
Brisker, a second-round pick in 2022, started all 17 games in 2025 and both playoff games. He started 15 games in each of his first two years; injuries limited him to five games in 2024.
Previously, starting Bears safety (and 2026 first-team All-Pro) Kevin Byard signed with the Patriots, on a one-year, $9 million deal. The Bears, in turn, have signed former Seahawks safety Coby Bryant to a three-year, $40 million deal.
The Steelers’ 2025 starting safeties — DeShon Elliott and Jalen Ramsey — are both under contract for 2026.
The Giants are adding another target for Jaxson Dart.
Free agent wide receiver Calvin Austin has agreed to a one-year contract with the Giants, his agents told Adam Schefter.
Austin has played his entire career with the Steelers, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2022. Last year he caught 31 passes for 372 yards and also returned 15 punts for 101 yards.
Giants head coach John Harbaugh saw Austin up close twice a year when his Ravens played the Steelers, and he was apparently impressed enough to want him with the Giants, who are rebuilding their roster and trying to find more playmakers.
On multiple occasions in recent months, Aaron Rodgers pointed out that he will be a free agent in 2026. Four days into the process, he still is.
Near the end of the 2025 regular season, he expressed confidence that he’ll have options if he decides to play another year.
“Whenever the season ends, I’ll be a free agent,” Rodgers said at the time. “So that’ll give me a lot of options if I still want to play. [Not] a lot of options, but there’ll be options I would think, maybe one or two, if I decide I still want to play.”
It’s getting harder to identify those options, as quarterback-needy teams address their needs. The Dolphins signed Malik Willis. The Colts re-signed Daniel Jones. The Falcons reportedly will sign Tua Tagovailoa. The Vikings are focused on Kyler Murray. The Raiders, who weren’t interested in Rodgers last year, seem to be poised to make Fernando Mendoza the No. 1 overall pick.
The only obvious remaining option, other than Pittsburgh, is Arizona. Nathaniel Hackett, one of Rodgers’s trust-tree coaches, is the offensive coordinator. Mike LaFleur, the Rams’ offensive coordinator a year ago when Rodgers was Plan B if Matthew Stafford was traded, is the head coach. But the Cardinals are caught in the basement of one of the best divisions in football; it would be a steep uphill climb for Rodgers to cap his career with a playoff berth.
That leaves Pittsburgh as the only viable option. And Pittsburgh seems to be waiting for him, even if (as Rodgers said last week) there have been no “progressive conversations” about another run.
As Cam Heyward put it last year, you either want to be a Steeler or you don’t.
Meanwhile, the Steelers’ potential alternatives are landing elsewhere. Of the remaining possibilities, Kirk Cousins would make the most sense for Pittsburgh.
The lack of suitors for Rodgers makes Pittsburgh’s apparent willingness to wait even more confounding for Steelers fans who wonder whether their favorite team is content to watch potentially better options go elsewhere while showing patience for someone who has yet to decide that he’s willing to run it back without Mike Tomlin.
The situation seems to require more urgency from the Steelers. They surely need a veteran, if they decide to let Will Howard show what he can do. Maybe they’ll bring back Justin Fields if/when the Jets cut him. Maybe they’ll sign the best available option (like Joe Flacco) if/when Rodgers tells them he’s not coming back.
Regardless, Steelers fans who were dismayed by the team’s willingness to wait and wait and wait for Rodgers in 2025 are feeling that same angst all over again. This isn’t Rodgers in his prime. This is a 42-year-old veteran who seems to be trying to recapture a little of the glory of MVP seasons gone by.
Wherever it goes from here, it won’t be easy for the Steelers to end a drought of playoff wins that, as of this year, could hit double digits.
