LAS VEGAS — The shockwaves from Mike Tomlin’s resignation are still rattling the windows at the Rooney Sports Complex, but if you were listening closely to Najee Harris last week, you’d know the writing wasn’t just on the wall—it was practically screamed from the rooftops. While Pittsburgh is still processing the end of an era following that gut-wrenching Wild Card loss to the Texans, Harris just went on the Get Got podcast and inadvertently revealed the truth: Tomlin had one foot out the door a long time ago.
The “Fatherly” Advice That Said It All
We all know the narrative. Tomlin is the ultimate soldier, the guy who stays until the wheels fall off. But during a sit-down with Marshawn Lynch, Harris—now with the Los Angeles Chargers—shared a conversation that flips that script entirely. Before Harris left Pittsburgh in the 2025 offseason, he went to Tomlin for advice on his upcoming free agency. He wasn’t looking for a coach’s take; he wanted the truth.
Tomlin didn’t mince words.
“He said, ‘Najee, I always talk to you not as if you are a player, but as if you are my son… If you was my son, I would tell you not to come back here.’ I was like, alright bet. It wasn’t no hard feelings or nothing like that.” — Najee Harris, via Get Got Podcast
Read that again. This wasn’t a coach telling a player “we can’t afford you.” This was Mike Tomlin, the face of the franchise, telling his former first-round pick that Pittsburgh was not the place to be in 2025. If Tomlin planned on being the Steelers’ head coach for the next five years, he fights to keep a workhorse like Harris. You don’t tell your “son” to flee the ship unless you know the ship is taking on water—or that the captain is about to abandon it.
The Writing Was on the Roster
Look at the moves—or lack thereof—that followed. Harris walked, signing a one-year deal with the Chargers (before that freak Achilles tear and the bizarre fireworks incident cut his season short). The Steelers replaced him by drafting Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson in the third round. The result? Johnson spent most of the season in sweatpants, inactive and unready.
Then there’s the Kenny Gainwell situation. The Steelers signed him to a bargain-bin one-year deal, expecting him to be insurance. Instead, Gainwell turned into the offense’s only pulse, racking up 1,023 total yards and snatching the Team MVP award. If the Steelers’ brass had a long-term vision, they wouldn’t have let Gainwell enter this offseason as a free agent who’s about to command triple his previous salary. They would have locked him down. They didn’t. Why? Because there was no long-term vision. The architect was already checking out.
The Cam Heyward Confession
The confusion inside the locker room was palpable. Just days ago on Radio Row here in Vegas, Captain Cam Heyward admitted to Rich Eisen that he was blindsided. Minutes before Tomlin’s final address, Heyward was prepping to watch tape on the Texans, thinking it was business as usual. He thought they were gearing up for exit meetings and a 2026 revenge tour.
Instead, Tomlin walked in and dropped the hammer.
Heyward didn’t know. The Rooneys might not have fully grasped it until the end. But Najee Harris knew. He knew a year ago because the man himself told him: Don’t come back.
What This Means for 2026
The Steelers are now rudderless in a way we haven’t seen since the pre-Noll era. With Mike McCarthy’s name floating around as a potential successor and Aaron Rodgers’ future in black and gold suddenly murky, the franchise is facing a hard reset. Tomlin didn’t just leave; he warned his guys to get out while they could. That’s the scary part. If the greatest motivator in the game didn’t believe in the immediate future of the Steelers, why should anyone else?
