Coming down the stretch of his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, assistant GM Andy Weidl’s time might be coming to an end.
Weidl, who was hired away from the Philadelphia Eagles in May 2022 to become GM Omar Khan’s right-hand man, was recently listed as a candidate for the GM opening of the Washington Commanders, by the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala.
The Steelers assistant GM was one of 12 names listed by Jhabvala as a candidate for the Commanders’ GM job at the end of the season. Washington will be in the market for a new head coach and a GM after Josh Harris took over as owner of the Commanders in July after purchasing the franchise for $6.05 billion.
Things haven’t gone well for the Commanders this season, which has changes coming. Weidl could be part of that change, per Jhabvala.
“The Steelers hired Weidl in 2022 after he spent seven years in the Eagles’ personnel department, most recently as their vice president of player personnel. Weidl helped shape the Eagles’ roster that defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Weidl also spent 11 seasons (2005 to 2015) in Baltimore and five in New Orleans (2000 to 2004) as a scout,” Jhabvala writes regarding Weidl.
Harris previously spent two seasons as a minority owner of the Steelers as his company — HBSE — began ownership of the Steelers in 2020.
Harris, obviously, was part of the Steelers’ ownership group when the decision was made to promote Khan and then bring in Weidl from the outside. There is some familiarity there from Harris’ perspective, which could play a role in Weidl getting a shot at running his own team as GM, back in the NFC East, too.
With the Steelers, Weidl has been instrumental in the emphasis on rebuilding the trenches. In the 2023 NFL Draft, Weidl had a hand in the Steelers trading up for Georgia’s Broderick Jones in the first round, and then landing Maryland’s Spencer Anderson in the seventh round. Weidl also had a hand in bringing in veteran free agent Isaac Seumalo in free agency after spending a number of years with him in Philadelphia.
Losing Weidl after just two seasons would be a big blow to the Steelers, but it’s the risk they took bringing the Pittsburgh native in as the assistant GM. Assuming things went well in Pittsburgh, Weidl was always going to get a look elsewhere. Based on Jhabvala’s reporting, that could be coming in Washington as the franchise looks to get things turned around under new ownership.
