Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert joined SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday for an interview following his NFL combine press conference and he talked about several topics related to the team and the draft.
Colbert was asked during the interview just how disappointed he was with the running game last season and if that is an area of priority this offseason.
“It is and we were disappointed,” said Colbert. “And I stated in no deference to the guys that played there, but we weren\’t good enough at that position and that falls on me. We had a lot of guys that tried to take the reigns and be the guy, but quite honestly they didn\’t do it. Again, you felt good about the position going into the season, coming out we didn\’t feel so good and that goes on me.
“We\’re going to try to upgrade and add to the running back position, because I\’m pretty sure that if you get a good runner that the offensive linemen are going to look a little bit better, and hopefully we\’re going to run the ball better.”
When asked if a running back that was on the roster this past season will be on the roster in 2013, Colbert indicated that would likely be the case.
“Well, we have two restricted free agents, Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman, and hopefully they\’re both back in the fold. We have a young man named Baron Batch, who was on our team as well. He broke his arm late in the season. So that\’s the starting point. We\’ll look at the free agent market that\’s coming up and we\’ll look in the draft.”
None of what Colbert said in regard to the running back position was a surprise, but it does sound like Dwyer and Redman will both be tendered as restricted free agents. Colbert, as usual, will look at the available free agents, but it is all but certain that the position will be addressed in the first few rounds of the upcoming draft.
