The Pittsburgh Steelers are officially moving on to the future. They were told on Tuesday that Mike Tomlin is stepping down as the head coach of the team, so now they have to go on search to find their new leader for the foreseeable future. Of course, he never lost the locker room, as players continued to sing his plays through the hard times and go after the fans that called for him to be fired. Even with his recent rough streak, he will forever remain in the hearts of many people around the sport.
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers' star defensive lineman Cam Heyward and long-time Head Coach Mike Tomlin share a moment as they walk off the field after a game in the Steel City.
However, it does not sound like everyone is shedding tears over this change. While on 93.7 The Fan, host Andrew Fillipponi brought up a message sent to him from a supposed source about the whole situation.
"I did get a text in the last 10 minutes or so from someone who I trust immensely," Fillipponi said. "This person said to me, 'I know of one very, very, very high-profile Steeler who was rooting for this to happen.'"
While Tomlin had not lost the locker room, he clearly did not have it 100% if this report is true. There have been a couple of players in recent years who have voiced their frustrations with the way things have been done. However, Fillipponi never said who that player was, whether it was never exposed to him or he was told that he could not say that part out loud, so there is some speculation on who it could be.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers' Mike Tomlin celebrates a road win in the locker room after taking down the Detroit Lions during the 2025 season.
The most likely option, which is also the one co-host Chris Mueller brought up quickly, is star edge rusher TJ Watt. There are very few super high-profile players on the team, and he was very critical of the organization after their latest playoff embarrassment. We don't know this for sure, but he seems to be the odds-on favorite for the player who wanted Tomlin to step down and leave the team for good.
The other two players who have an incredibly large profile in the locker room, Cameron Heyward and Aaron Rodgers, have defended Tomlin until the bitter end and have not hesitated to angrily call out Steeler Nation for wanting a new head coach. It is possible that they would say that in public but have different thoughts behind the scenes, but neither of them likely had any hope that the Steelers would have a new coach.
Other Steelers That Have Called Out Tomlin
Linebacker Patrick Queen has voiced his issues with Tomlin's scheme earlier. As the defensive play-caller, he definitely has somewhat of a high profile in the organization, but it doesn't seem like he has a super high one like Fillipponi said. He could be one of the ones that were upset with the way Tomlin did things, but he was most likely not the one that was spoken about in the report.
Barry Reeger / Imagn Images
Former Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin coaching up linebacker Patrick Queen during the 2025 NFL season.
Former star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was not very shy about the issues in Tomlin's schematics. There was even a rumor spread by his teammate at the time that his issues with the coaches was what led to him being traded away in the 2025 offseason in the first place. He supposedly didn't like Tomlin's way, so it was the highway for him. He did have a high profile while in Pittsburgh.
There have also been numerous ex-Steelers that have publicly bashed Tomlin on TV and on their podcasts. Even the ones that won a Super Bowl with him have had no issues with talking about what he did wrong in their eyes. Even if Watt is that high-profile player that wanted this to happen, he definitely was not the only one who is happy about this happening.
What do you think about a super high-profile player being happy about Tomlin leaving? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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