Shortly after the New York Giants confirmed on Monday that they had parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll, some members of the NFL community linked the Giants with Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tomlin signed a three-year contract extension in June 2024 that reportedly pays him around $16M per year, meaning the Steelers will still hold his rights following the ongoing season. During a Wednesday appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discussed whether or not the Giants could land Tomlin’s services via an offseason trade.
“In years past, the Steelers would never do that,” Fittipaldo explained, per Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot. “They would never even listen to the offer. They wouldn’t even take the phone call. I can’t sit here and tell you that it’s 100 percent gonna be that way again, but I would tend to think it would be.”
Rumors about Tomlin’s future hovered over the Steelers last winter, even though there was never any real indication that Pittsburgh considered making a change. The Steelers have a history of not firing head coaches, as they’ve employed just three since 1969.
That said, Pittsburgh hasn’t notched a playoff victory under Tomlin since the 2016 season. The 2025 Steelers won four of their first five games but have since fallen to 5-4. Meanwhile, it’s unclear if quarterback Aaron Rodgers will retire after this season. Pittsburgh’s current QB1 turns 42 years old in December.
“I don’t think they’ve lost faith in that building just because of a rough month here,” Fittipaldo added about how the Steelers view Tomlin. “I think something really bad would have to transpire in the last two months of the season for them to even consider that. From the Steelers’ perspective, I still don’t think that would be in play.”
That “something really bad” could involve the Steelers losing their hold of first place in the AFC North standings. The suddenly hot Baltimore Ravens are at 4-5 and are closing in on Pittsburgh, but the Steelers will have an opportunity to earn a win over a division opponent when they host the Cincinnati Bengals (3-6) this Sunday. As of Thursday morning, ESPN BET had Pittsburgh as a 5.5-point favorite for that matchup.
It would be just the Browns‘ luck, wouldn’t it, to have two first-round picks (one likely a Top 5 pick) in a 2026 NFL draft that has depth and quality at a number of positions … but not so much at quarterback. It’s a legacy that stretches back more than three decades, the Browns’ inability to draft and develop a top-line quarterback, and there is real fear that the 2026 draft might not be the one to help them much.
Still, after five games of Dillon Gabriel, and unless there is a late-season revelation on Shedeur Sanders as a future star, the Browns will need to pick a quarterback in six months. The pool might be slim, but at Cleveland.com, they’ve got a path for the Browns to get a guy who has shown some toughness and grit–and who happens to be 6-foot-5, a nice contrast to the diminutive Gabriel.
The quarterback: Fernando Mendoza of undefeated Indiana.
Now, it should be noted that the mock draft does feature a big break for the Browns, in that the team lands with the fourth pick and none of the Top 3 pick a quarterback. That’s plausible, since two of the worst teams in the league–the Titans and Giants–appear to have QB1s in place. A third, the Saints, could decide they need to give last year’s second-rounder, Tyler Shough, a shot.
So the Browns get the pick of the QB litter.
Writes Tim Bielik of Cleveland.com: “Mendoza right now is QB1 and his game-winning drive at Penn State on Saturday only solidified that standing. He has just about everything a quarterback needs except for an elite deep ball. Mendoza has taken the next step as a quarterback under Curt Cignetti and looks like the type of QB who could turn a team like the Browns back around quickly.”
There is some debate on who is the top quarterback in this draft, with Ty Simpson of Alabama getting some of that attention, and Oregon’s Dante Moore also in the mix. And the one worrying aspect of it all is that none of those three were considered sure-fire first-rounders heading into this season. If only Arch manning had lived up to his hype, this might be an easy call.
Still, the Browns are unmistakably in the market for a quarterback, and Mendoza shines as a sort of anti-Gabriel–big and strong, poised in the pocket, while being both accurate and willing to take risks down the field. According to Pro Football Focus, Mendoza is not all that bad with the deep passes, completing 18 of his 33 passes of 20 yards or more this year.
(Worth noting: Gabriel is 2-for-8 on such passes with the Browns thus far.)
Mendoza’s completion percentage (71.3%) is excellent, and he has racked up 2,342 yards on the season in 10 games. The only games in which he did not top 200 yards passing were blowouts against Old Dominion and UCLA.
The good news for the Browns on their second first-rounder is that, should the team turn to more offensive help with that pick, there is a deep pool of first-round-worthy receivers on hand, and Cleveland should do what it can to pluck one of them.
The Cleveland.com mock has them landing USC’s Makai Lemon, who has been one of the most productive pass-catchers in college football. But Jordyn Tyson (Arizona State), Carnell Tate (Ohio State), Chris Bell (Louisville), and Denzel Boston (Washington) are also worth watching.