The season hasn’t even kicked off, yet the mayhem has already started for the New York Jets. According to Jason La Canfora, owner Woody Johnson is targeting Mike Tomlin to lead the team in 2027. Yet there are two parts to this equation: if Johnson really wants Tomlin, would the former Steelers coach be willing to come to the Jets? Here’s what I know.

La Canfora, who joined us for the first round of our NFL Draft livestream just four months ago, noted, “preliminary groundwork for a potential pursuit of NBC’s Mike Tomlin is already underway in East Rutherford. [Aaron] Glenn is a dead man walking, and he knows it.”

According to one general manager La Canfora spoke with, who added,

“I hear the same thing about Woody wanting Tomlin. It makes complete sense; money won’t be an object.”

The first question that should be addressed: is Aaron Glenn a dead man walking? It’s quite possible.

I reported from the combine that the overriding reason the Jets kept Glenn around after the debacle last season was the amount of money Johnson would’ve owed the first-year head coach had he been fired. “Aaron Glenn needs another season” was a nice way of saying he’s too expensive to fire.

Now on to Mike Tomlin.

Back on January 3rd of this year, just before the final game of the 2025 regular season when the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens met for a ticket into the post season, I reported that sources close to Tomlin told me they believed he was likely to take a sabbatical from the sidelines this year if they didn’t make a deep run into the playoffs and that’s exactly what happened.

In that report, I mentioned that Tomlin could end up in a FOX television booth covering games on Sunday during his hiatus. FOX went hard trying to bring the former coach to the network, but Tomlin chose NBC.

So could Tomlin be one and done with NBC, then back on the sidelines potentially coaching the Jets in 2027?

The same sources who gave me the information for the January 3^rd story, which turned out to be correct, tell me that they believe the only way Tomlin coaches the Jets in 2027 would be to receive a piece of the team from Woody Johnson. The expected demand for a stake in a team is not only Tomlin’s desire to be part owner of a franchise, but the price it would cost to get him to lead a dysfunctional organization such as the Jets.

I was told that even though Tomlin loves the studio work in the early going, he’s still too close to the game and would entertain the possibility of returning to the sidelines in 2027. Tomlin will be the hot name for teams needing a new head coach after the upcoming season, but it’s going to take a king’s ransom for Woody Johnson and the Jets to snag him, if they are one of those teams.  It could very well turn into a Mike Vrabel situation where Tomlin uses the Jets to get the job he ultimately wants.

Johnson surrendering a portion of ownership in return for someone to run the team is not a new idea. I’ve floated this very concept the past two years with the idea of luring Brooklyn-born Howie Roseman from the Philadelphia Eagles to take over the Jets organization.

Just a side note on Jason La Canfora – Days before the 2019 NFL Draft, I reported a major rift had developed between Mike Maccagnan, general manager of the New York Jets at the time, and their head coach, Adam Gase. I went further ahead and noted that the Jets would be making major front-office changes immediately after the draft and Mike Maccagnan would be shown the door after losing the power struggle.

Sure enough, Maccagnan was fired soon after the draft, and La Canfora was the first to report that Joe Douglas was the top candidate for the open general manager position.

At this point, one thing is certain- this is a distraction the New York Jets didn’t need before the season has even begun.