It would be a massive shock if former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin does not enter into television for the 2026 NFL season.
There are plenty of options for Tomlin, who will likely command a significant salary and a top assignment. But on The Craig Carton Show on SportsGrid, Craig Carton had his preferred destination – ESPN. It wasn’t because of what opportunities might be available or because the network is the best fit for the coach.
It would be to get rid of Ryan Clark.
“I’ve got the answer. Mike Tomlin could save us from an insufferable race baiter on TV,” Carton said. “I would fire Ryan Clark and replace him with Mike Tomlin. And the reason I do that is if you make that replacement, Ryan Clark can’t claim racism. He can’t say you replaced me with a young white guy or a pretty blonde girl. He’d have to eat it because you’re replacing him with a black guy.”
Craig Carton said that he was once a big fan of Ryan Clark and that he even once reached out to him to form a relationship because he was a fan of his work. However, Carton then soured on Clark and his content at not just ESPN, but on his own personal platform at The Pivot.
“I thought Ryan Clark was a rising star. And then unfortunately, he made a decision, and maybe that’s good for his family and himself, where he became a race guy. Unfortunately, a lot of things, a lot of his takes are about race, and I can’t stand that black or white. So we got to the point where I find him insufferable now. And I loved The Pivot. I think The Pivot had the chance to be one of the great podcasts out there, and again, it all became soapbox race crap, right? So now I’m going to replace him with Mike Tomlin. America is happy. Mike Tomlin is employed. He’s happy. And we can move on with our lives and enjoy good sports content,” Carton concluded.
Ryan Clark was once an analyst with huge potential and star power at ESPN. And he is still given big roles and big assignments, but he’s become a polarizing presence thanks to things that have happened on and off the air. In just the last year there was his bonkers feud with Robert Griffin III, his bizarre blowup at Peter Schrager, and his getting ahead of himself on a Kyren Lacy video. Clark apologized for all of those incidents that hurt his reputation.
In addition, Clark has been very outspoken about cultural and racial issues, especially on his podcast, which generally draws criticism from right wing political commentators. ESPN has stood by Clark throughout his many controversies in the last year, and would likely be in vehement opposition to Carton calling him a “race baiter,” which is a very polarizing pejorative in and of itself. Of course, Clark played under Tomlin in Pittsburgh, so the network would likely see their possible pairing as a selling point instead of one replacing the other.
ESPN would be more than happy to add Mike Tomlin to its roster of highly paid NFL analysts, but likely not at the expense of Ryan Clark.
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