As the search for the next general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers continues on during the offseason, one name has emerged as a front-runner, according to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers’ Insider Gerry Dulac.
Dulac, writing in his Post-Gazette chat with fans Wednesday, believes that Philadelphia Eagles’ Vice President of Player Personnel Andy Weidl is the front-runner for the position post-Kevin Colbert.
“I’d be willing to bet he is the front-runner for the position, as of right now,” Dulac writes in regards to Weidl.Â
A Pittsburgh native who has spent the last 25 years in the NFL scouting department, Weidl is a name that emerged late in the first round of interviews for the opening opening at general manager. Weidl got his start in the NFL in 1998 with the Steelers, evaluating college and professional players as a player personnel assistant from 1998 to 1999 under former Steelers’ director of football operations Tom Donahoe and former Steelers’ scout and Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Nunn.
After leaving Pittsburgh, Weidl spent four seasons with the New Orleans Saints as a National Combine Scout and a Northeast Area Scout, before heading to Baltimore, where he spent 11 years with the Ravens as a West Area Scout, Northeast Area Scout, and East Regional Scout, helping the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII during the 2012 season.
Weidl has spent the last seven seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles as the Assistant Director of Player Personnel, Director of Player Personnel, and Vice President of Player Personnel, helping build an Eagles roster that reached the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, won two NFC East championships and Super Bowl LII in 2017.
While Dulac believes that Weidl, an outside candidate, is the front-runner for the opening due to his Pittsburgh area ties and history with the Steelers organization, guys like Brandon Hunt and Omar Khan remain the prohibitive favorites as the Steelers are far more likely to keep the job in-house with one of those two names, rather than going outside of the organization post-draft to add a new voice to the room.
