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Mike Tomlin's salary drops two percent, gains far less than other fined coaches

Four other coaches have been fined $100,000 or more. They all got more out of their massive deduction than Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

By Neal Coolong
Joe Robbins

The NFL doesn't typically report the salaries of head coaches, but Forbes Magazine recently put the salary of head coach Mike Tomlin at $5.75 million in 2012, making him the eighth-highest paid coach in all of sports. He was the sixth-highest in the NFL last season, after having signed a three-year extension that keeps him in Pittsburgh through the 2016 season.

Assuming Tomlin's salary was somewhere around that level for 2013, his fine is roughly two percent of his yearly salary. That doesn't seem astronomical, but for the action, Tomlin did less than fellow Six Figure Fine Clubbers did.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick was personally fined $500,000 for patterned behavior involving his instruction to his employees to film the signals of opposing teams - up to and including placing those coaches on the sidelines of their opponents. That's something alleged to have gone on for quite a while.

Saints coach Sean Payton endorsed and cultivated a program in which players were allegedly paid for hits on certain players. Again, something that took time and orchestration over an extended period of time, which resulted in his year-long suspension.

Former Vikings coach Mike Tice sold Super Bowl tickets, and was fined $100,000 for it. After the six grand he made on the sale of those tickets, it was more like $94,000 - assuming the buyer was able to get in the game, and Tice didn't have to refund the money.

Cowboys quarterbacks coach was suspended for five games and fined $100,000 for taking performance-enhancing substances he claims were due to diabetes. So Wilson either received treatment for a significant medical condition, or he became the most ripped QBs coach in the NFL.

Tomlin got enough memes created in his honor to fill SB Nation, Bleacher Report and The National Enquirer for the next year, didn't gain a competitive advantage (like Belichick and Payton), didn't profit financially (like Tice) and didn't get rock-hard abs (like Wilson).

Tomlin really got nothing out of it. Just a moment that changed his legacy from Youngest Super Bowl Winning Coach Ever to The Guy Who Nearly Hit A Guy on a Kick Return.

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