Mike Tomlin Shares Unique Story From When The Steelers Were Interested In Chiefs' Travis Kelce

The Pittsburgh Steelers went through a major organization shift during the 2026 offseason. Mike Tomlin decided to step down as the head coach of the team after the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Texans. It was an ugly loss, and some fans kind of had an inkling that the coach might be done after the season ended. The organization conducted a thorough search for the team's next head coach, and the franchise landed on Mike McCarthy, which bucked a lot of typical trends that the organization follows when hiring new head coaches.

Tomlin stepping down as the head coach for the Steelers isn't like other coaching changes around the NFL. He had been with Pittsburgh for nearly two decades, and he was very much a piece of what the organization was throughout that time. There are players on the roster that had been coached by Tomlin for a decade or longer, so his imprint is still all over the roster and the franchise.

The former head coach decided to draft a lot of the players that are on the roster, and it is always interesting to hear about organizations and how they go about finding out everything they want to about a certain prospect. Tomlin was on New Heights on Wednesday, and he was asked by Travis Kelce about certain tactics Tomlin used during the tight ends interview with the Steelers at the 2013 NFL Combine.

"We were in one of the hotel rooms, and we were going over film," Kelce said. "I remember, there's not a lot of light in those hotel rooms, but there was always the one wall light. For whatever reason, you put 'Mean' Joe Greene right under that light, and it just felt like I was being intimidated the entire time. Did you put him back there to intimidate guys?"

Prospects meet with a ton of teams at the NFL's scouting combine, and Kelce met with Pittsburgh back in 2013 in a hotel room. Apparently, Tomlin stuck "Mean" Joe Greene under one of the only light sources in the room in order to try to intimidate prospects, which he confirmed in his answer.

"By design," Tomlin said. "Seriously. First of all, you're not a real football guy if you didn't recognize who that was. If you did recognize who that was, then it certainly was a component of intimidation. I remember it perfectly, you walked out of the room and I was like, 'Man, there's a little bit of a risky edge to that guy, but I want a piece of that.' I was like, 'Man, that guy could go either way.'"

Tomlin was always very calculated, and that was evident from this story of how he treated interviews with prospects at the combine. There were two factors to Greene being involved, intimidation and having a respect for the history of the sport. Greene was a part of the front office during this time, but he retired shortly after.

Tomlin has always spoken highly about the history of the franchise in Pittsburgh, and the history of the game in general. He has a deep respect for it, so while the test of knowledge when it comes to recognizing Greene might seem like nothing, it was certainly something for him. It might decide a player's fate, but he certainly takes it into account.

Steelers Had Some Level Of Interest In Travis Kelce

Kelce was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the first pick in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Steelers never really had a chance to pick him despite the organization being interested in some way. The first-round pick for Pittsburgh that year was Jarvis Jones, and the organization grabbed Le'Veon Bell in the second round. Kelce was already off the board in the third round before the Steelers could even think about grabbing him.

What do you think of this exchange between Kelce and Tomlin? Let me know on X, @brogannoey!

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