Within the Steelers faithful, the late tenure of Mike Tomlin has been a major hot button issue, at last culminating with the longtime face of the franchise finally abdicating his position. Especially taken alongside the Baltimore Ravens’ parallel firing of John Harbaugh, it earnestly feels like the end of an era in the NFL, only amplified given that Tomlin was just the third-ever Steelers head coach in the league’s modern history.
Whether the shoes at hand came about as Tomlin (proverbially or literally) cleaned out his locker, a set of Nike Air Force 1 Low samples created for him nonetheless bridges that sports column story into a footwear one. First surfacing in July of 2025 via vaunted collector @depeche23mode, this two-pack comes to light anew by equally legendary AF1-er @pgknows, providing additional in-hand looks at the PE (CE?) pairs.
Two contrasting white/black/yellow and black/white/yellow pairs wear Yinzer pride front and center, be it with contrast yellow stitching, diamond plate insoles with Tomlin’s signature and the team logo, or spell-out branding on the tongues. On a purely aesthetic level, elephant print collars round out either shoe.
According to the sample tags attached, both pairs were made for Tomlin in 2012, just a few years after he became the youngest-ever Super Bowl-winning head coach and squarely in the heyday of the Roethlisberger era. The choice of silhouette here would become plain and clear in the years to follow, as Mike T. stamped the everlasting “Triple Black” as his favored sideline wear, famously gifting the entire Steelers roster the workman’s shoe in 2022.
If you share Mike Tomlin’s size 11, this set of PE Air Force 1 Low colorways will no doubt cost a pretty penny, but they are a notable piece of memorabilia for a now-fading chapter for one of the NFL’s most storied franchises. Check out in-hand looks dotted throughout this piece.
