ESPN Should Replace Ryan Clark On Monday Night Football With Mike Tomlin | Burack

When Adam Schefter reported earlier this week that Mike Tomlin was resigning as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and likely moving onto television, I proposed an idea: ESPN should replace Ryan Clark on Monday Night Football with Tomlin.

The idea proved popular on X. Clay Travis called it a "STELLAR" proposition, while former FS1 host Craig Carton floated the same suggestion on his podcast.

"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’d 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."

For some reason, presumably contractual, ESPN continues to feature Clark on its Monday Night Football pregame and halftime shows alongside Scott Van Pelt, Marcus Spears, and Jason Kelce. Clark has no business in such high-profile roles. Over the past year, he has shown himself to be irresponsible, impulsive, and a buffoon.

In just the past six months, Clark has shamed Robert Griffin III for marrying a white woman, spread misinformation about police involvement in an arrest and subsequent suicide, berated a colleague on-air, and injected race into several conversations where it did not belong.

Just last week, he shouted on television that he would blame Josh Allen for the Bills’ loss no matter what, even if his teammates were at fault. By comparison, he has previously argued that Lamar Jackson was not responsible for the Ravens’ losses because football is a team sport.

Got that?

This type of idiocy has no place on a prestigious platform like Monday Night Football. And as Carton and I noted, Clark couldn’t play the race card if ESPN replaced him with Tomlin. It would be an ideal way to remove Clark from the platform while avoiding accusations of silencing a black man, as Clark would undoubtedly claim.

Former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Tomlin. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

Now, ESPN will likely face competition for Tomlin's services. The expectation across the media industry is that each of the NFL’s broadcast partners will want to meet with Tomlin. For what it’s worth, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport indicated on Tuesday that Fox Sports could be the favorite.

Nonetheless, if Tomlin follows Sean Payton's path and takes only a year off from coaching, ESPN could be the best option. Choosing ESPN would allow Tomlin to appear on the coverage of next season’s Super Bowl, which ESPN and ABC will air.

ESPN also offers the unique advantage of a standalone, legacy broadcast window on Monday nights.

Furthermore, the network is expected to re-evaluate its NFL programming before next season. Both Van Pelt and executive Burke Magnus have publicly discussed Van Pelt’s future, noting that he could move from his midnight slot to a 5 p.m. show next season. It remains unclear how that potential shift would affect his NFL hosting duties, if at all.

In any event, ESPN cannot in good faith prepare to host a Super Bowl with Ryan Clark as a featured voice. Given Clark’s history of going into business for himself, can you imagine what he might say to an audience of nearly 130 million?

Related: Are We Sure Mike Tomlin Would Even Be Good On TV?