I wouldn't discount Mike McCarthy as a 2yr placeholder

by hobbs, San Diego, CA, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 11:18 (1 day, 4 hours, 31 min. ago) @ Jeremy (WeIsND)
edited by hobbs, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 11:44

Hiring MM allows Pittsburgh to have their ducks aligned so as to operate on their timeline. Pittsburgh had no idea Tomlin was planning on retiring so they were blindsided and had no in-place plan to vet & hire a replacement.

I suspect Freeman was on whatever shortlist the Rooneys had but they hadn't laid any groundwork with Freeman or Clint Dowdle in outlining the parameters of the job for him.

GM?
QB?
Salary Cap $$ contracted & ownership willingness to spend X
Assistant Coaches $$ (Free would need some experienced NFL guys on staff)

Janurary 12th was far too late for them to approach Freeman & Agent and basically hammer out a deal in 4 days.

As I said MM buys you 2 years.

At that point Pitt will operate on their timeline and have the appropriate background approaches and (framework) 90% settled with whoever their candidates are.

IMO, Pitt and Freeman had mutual interest but the process was rushed and Freeman didn't feel comfortable leaving, what he knew was a good job, for a Pittsburgh situation that had a bunch of unknowns attached.