There's a hope, at least within the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, that if head coach Mike Tomlin decides to return to the NFL and coach a different organization, Pittsburgh would get some draft compensation in return. We've seen that happen countless times now, though it remains uncertain if that will really be the case.
According to the latest report, a lot of that has to do with what his contract states. If Tomlin has in his contract that he can leave at any given moment, it's a possibility he wouldn't have to be traded for draft compensation.
However, per the same report, there's a sense that Tomlin's contract wouldn't state something like that because of who he is.
“Tomlin’s contract could, in theory, toll the remaining term, giving the Steelers indefinite rights to compensation. Tomlin’s contract could, in theory, make him a free agent immediately. It all comes down to the terms of his contract. And because NFL head-coaching contracts aren’t available publicly or through databases to which many have access (like player contracts), it won’t be easy to know exactly what Tomlin’s contract says.
“It’s unlikely that the agreement lets him leave whenever he wants and immediately join another team. The question is whether the team loaded into the document the ability to seek compensation from another team, if he returns after the date by which his contract would have otherwise expired,” Mike Florio wrote.
I highly doubt the Steelers would give Tomlin a contract stating that he can leave at any given moment and coach a different team as a head coach, though he's one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and there's a scenario in which his contract's a little different than the typical one.
For the Steelers' sake, they'll have to hope he has language in there that doesn't allow him to do so.
Getting anything back for a head coach is always a thing. It's not often we see it happen, but for a coach of Tomlin's status, there's at least an expectation that it could happen whenever he decides to come back in the mix.
