Mike Tomlin is a beloved head coach in the NFL. He is revered by his peers and admired by outside players.
Just a few months ago, leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Tomlin was voted as the coach incoming rookies would most like to play for. He’s a future Hall of Famer, and continues to have players, coaches, and media members speak highly of him.
Except for CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala.
Appearing on 93.7 The Fan’s PM Show Wednesday with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller, Kinkhabwala hinted that a number of former players under Tomlin don’t exactly have good things to say about him.
“I’ll just say this without violating anybody’s trust. There are many, many, many former players that I have spoken to that have bitten their tongues about their experience with Mike,” Kinkhabwala said of Tomlin, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on YouTube.
You hear time and time again about Tomlin being a player’s coach and guys wanting to play for him because he treats them with respect as professionals and knows how to connect with them on a personal level.
While that can be a great thing, it can also be a huge negative, as former outside linebacker James Harrison explained last week during an appearance on Nightcap with former Cincinnati Bengals receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh, stating that being a player’s coach was the best and worst part about Tomlin.
In the past, Tomlin has repeatedly stated that he treats players fairly but not equally. That allowed guys like Antonio Brown and Harrison to get away with stuff because of how important they were to the team, like Harrison falling asleep in meetings in 2017 before being released, or Brown doing his own thing over and over again until a meltdown occurred, and there was no repairing the relationship.
Others have stated some frustrations with the Steelers and how they operate in the past, like Melvin Ingram III requesting a trade shortly after signing with the Steelers because he was told one thing upon signing, and then something different played out.
For every negative story, though, there are plenty of positive ones. Tomlin remains a huge attraction in free agency, even this offseason with the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Darius Slay. Typically, guys have nothing negative to say about him when they depart.
Even Russell Wilson spoke highly of Tomlin after the Steelers very clearly didn’t want him back.
While the Steelers have not had playoff success in the last decade, Tomlin remains highly regarded. For Kinkhabwala, there’s a clear disconnect between accomplishments and reputation, and many won’t talk about it.
“…There’s a huge disconnect, right? Because the national media is in love with Mike Tomlin,” Kinkhabwala said of Tomlin. “And the national media never brings up the playoff drought. And the national media never brings up all these wide receivers who can’t seem to behave one after another and another.”
That’s ironic, considering Kinkhabwala is national media. She’s one of the few who will talk about it, but there often appears to be more personal feelings brought into it when it comes to Kinkhabwala and Tomlin. She’s ripped Tomlin in the past for seemingly not holding players accountable, and has criticized Tomlin over and over again for how the Steelers handled Kenny Pickett, a player she has spoken highly of often when on The Fan.
Tomlin is not without his warts. He’s faced plenty of criticism in recent years, especially as the Steelers continue to go one-and-done. He’s under a lot of scrutiny this offseason, too, for how the Steelers waited on Rodgers at quarterback and are seemingly going all-in on 2025.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows with Tomlin. But there’s more good than bad. The loud minority is seemingly heard more often than others, though.
