Former Pittsburgh Steelers’ front office member Samir Suleiman currently with the Carolina Panthers, is interviewing for the Panthers’ vacant GM job. The team made the announcement on their website earlier Wednesday, continuing their trend of being transparent about their head coach and general manager hiring process.
Suleiman is a notable name because of his time spent with the Pittsburgh Steelers, his previous job before being hired by Carolina. While with the Steelers, he was considered a potential successor to Omar Khan as the team’s “cap guy,” handling the salary cap and the point man in contract negotiations. Khan was pursued for GM jobs for years, nearly getting hired several times, and had he left, Suleiman almost certainly would’ve taken over his role.
But when ex-Steelers minority owner David Tepper bought the Panthers in May of 2018, he soon hired away some of the Steelers’ front office figures. He hired Suleiman nearly three years ago, late January of 2020, now carrying the title VP of Football Administration for the Panthers. Now, he has a chance to become the Panthers’ next GM replacing Scott Fitterer, fired on Monday. The team has long been set to hire a new coach after dismissing Frank Reich in November, his first year with the team.
The Panthers have a long list of potential candidate interviews, some of which overlap with the Steelers’ GM search in 2022. Colts Assistant GM Ed Dodds interviewed with Pittsburgh and has also been requested by Carolina. Other notable candidates in Carolina include Las Vegas Raiders Interim GM Champ Kelly and Panthers’ Assistant GM Dan Morgan, a former NFL linebacker, who played seven years for the franchise.
After Suleiman was hired away, Pittsburgh replaced him with Cole Marcoux. Once Khan was named Kevin Colbert’s successor, Marcoux became the point man in handling contracts, as confirmed by Khan this past May, referencing the team’s rookie contracts.
“We’ve got Cole Marcoux who handles it for us. I think we’ve got three through seven done so far.”
Khan still has a role in the cap and team contracts.
So far, the Steelers front office has seen no changes after undergoing quite a bit of turnover the last two years, expected with a new GM. There have been no reports of Assistant GM Andy Weidl being requested for interviews despite a popular name with the media to garner NFL interest. While Pittsburgh is still in the middle of their season, there have been plenty of front office members also in the playoffs who have reportedly been requested or interviewed for jobs. We’ll see if Weidl’s name comes up in connection anywhere over the next week or two.
There have also been zero reports about any Steelers’ assistant coaches being requested for interviews. But with no head coaching candidate, positional coaches for coordinator jobs won’t occur until team’s hire their head coaches and/or general manager. DBs Coach Grady Brown is a name to watch on the interview circuit for a defensive coordinator spot.
