When it comes to general managers in the NFL, few are better than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kevin Colbert.
Colbert, who has been the Steelers’ GM since 2000 after taking over for Tom Donahue, has led the Steelers to a ton of success, including three Super Bowl appearances and two Lombardi Trophies, adding to the Steelers’ lengthy history overall in the National Football League.
Though Colbert is nearing the end of his career and is on a year-to-year track in his position, he’s still considered one of the best GMs in the entire NFL due to his ability to identify talent in the draft, sign bargain free agents that end up making an impact, and also masterfully navigate the salary cap waters each year (with immense help from Omar Khan).
On Friday, The Athletic’s Mike Sando took a shot at ranking each of the NFL’s 32 general managers. Unsurprisingly, Colbert came in near the top of the list. In fact, Colbert is just one of eight GMs in the NFL that has been with the same team for at least a decade. Of those eight, Colbert is one of five that has at least one Super Bowl to his credit.
Colbert also has the second-highest winning percentage of those eight (fifth overall in the NFL) and is tied for the second-most playoff wins as GM with Dallas Cowboys legend Jerry Jones.
Knowing all of that, Sando ranked Colbert No. 2 in the NFL, right behind New England’s Bill Belichick.
Colbert has been going year-to-year with his contracts amid some expectation retirement is near. His current deal runs through the 2022 draft. Can he find Ben Roethlisberger’s successor? There is much more to do than that for a team facing a massive rebuild.
Sando doesn’t fully elaborate on why he has Colbert at No. 2 in the league, but the full body of work speaks for itself with the man in charge of assembling the Steelers year-to-year.
Few have had the same amount of success Colbert has in his two-plus decades with the Steelers. He’ll have to do it all over again in the coming years (should he choose to ride it out) as the Steelers transition from the Ben Roethlisberger era into the great unknown.
If there’s a GM that can make that transition seamless, it’s Colbert at this point in his career.
Make no mistake: He certainly has warts, including being unable to identify cornerbacks in the draft, and struggling to put a good offensive line on the field consistently in his tenure. But overall, he’s consistently had the Steelers in contention and typically finds the next wave of Steelers stars the right way: Through drafting and development.
