The Pittsburgh Steelers, for the first time in decades, are looking for a new general manager, with Kevin Colbert stepping down from that post shortly. The team interviewed 16 candidates earlier this offseason in a first wave of the search. Since the completion of the draft, they have brought in six of those candidates for second interviews, or intend to, according to reports.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports tonight that the Steelers intend to complete their second-round interviews this week—and it’s already Thursday night, so there’s not a lot of time left—noting that they even could already be done. They completed a second-round interview today with their own director of pro personnel, Brandon Hunt, whom many regard as the favorite for the job.
Steelers are wrapping up GM interviews this week – they might already be done, with Brandon Hunt the last of the six known finalists to interview. But Pittsburgh’s plan is to have that process done by this week and then work on next steps, I’m told. Getting closer.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 20, 2022
“Pittsburgh’s plan is to have that process done by this week and then work on next steps, I’m told”, he adds, finishing with, “Getting closer”. In other words, just because they may be on the verge of completing their interviews doesn’t mean that they will officially name a general manager in the immediate days to follow.
The team has officially announced the completion of second interviews with the following five personnel: Hunt; Omar Khan; Andy Weidl; John Spytek; and Ryan Cowden. It was reported a week or two ago that they also intended to have a second interview with Doug Whaley, but the team has never announced that that has taken place, so he could be the final interview.
Hunt and Kelly, of course, are the in-house candidates. A number of individuals have also directed attention to Weidl, the Philadelphia Eagles’ vice president of player personnel, who began his career in the NFL with the Steelers in 1998-99 as a player personnel assistant under Tom Donahoe, the team’s last ‘general manager’ who did not wear the formal general manager title.
As for Colbert, it certainly doesn’t sound as though he wants to retire. And it doesn’t sound as though the organization is in a rush to get him out the door, either. The phrase that he has repeatedly used for months was that he would be open to retaining a position as long as he can “help and not hinder” the team and their next general manager.
Whether or not he continues to work with the team could depend upon whom they ultimately decide on as their next general manager, and what his vision is for the team moving forward, but I don’t think any of these listed candidates will have ideas that are particularly radical and would result in a cleaning of the house in the scouting department.
