The New England Patriots have undergone quite a bit of turnover on the leadership end of things this offseason after moving on from longtime head coach Bill Belichick. He also served as the de facto general manager, so they are on a search to replace those job responsibilities. According to Adam Schefter on X, former Pittsburgh Steelers exec Brandon Hunt is interviewing for that role.
He was in the running for the Steelers’ GM position when Kevin Colbert announced he was moving on, but the role ultimately went to Omar Khan. Hunt subsequently left for the Philadelphia Eagles with a role as their director of scouting under GM Howie Roseman.
That was also at the same time that the Eagles’ VP of Player Personnel, Andy Weidl, joined the Steelers as their assistant general manager. He brought with him his brother, Casey Weidl from the Eagles’ scouting department.
He served as the Pro Scouting Coordinator with the Steelers and was a part of the organization from 2009 to 2022.
This is the first external candidate that has been announced by the Patriots as interviewing for the role.
Hunt attended Pine Richland High School in the North Hills area of the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. He then attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he got his first job as a professional in the football world as a graduate assistant.
In 2004 he landed a front office internship with the Steelers and used that experience to become a pro scout with the Houston Texans for two years before circling back to the Steelers for over a decade.
Back when he was interviewing for the Steelers’ GM role, he also received an interview for the same position with the Las Vegas Raiders as well as the Buffalo Bills’ assistant GM role, so he has some experience going through this process.
If he gets the job, he would be the first de facto GM for the Patriots since before the Bill Belichick era back in 1999, when Bobby Grier held the position for three seasons.
