If you’re a front office nerd like me, this move will raise an eyebrow. After the Carolina Panthers named Dan Morgan as their new general manager, Panthers VP of Football Administration Samir Suleiman is no longer with the team. CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones was the first to report the news.
While we typically don’t write about the inner-workings of the 31 other franchises, this one has a Steelers tie-in. Suleiman previously worked for Pittsburgh before being hired away by Carolina in January 2020. With the Steelers, Suleiman was the team’s Football Administration Coordinator and widely viewed as Omar Khan’s successor, leading the team on salary cap and contract matters.
When Suleiman left, the team hired Cole Marcoux as Director of Football Administration, and he effectively sits in that role now that Khan is the Steelers’ general manager.
Earlier this month, Suleiman interviewed for the Panthers’ GM job. But Carolina decided to hire Morgan, a former Panthers linebacker who was the team’s Assistant GM. Reportedly, Carolina plans to pair Morgan with someone who has a better feel for the business side. Either Suleiman wasn’t going to be that guy, leading to his departure, or he was upset at being passed over for the GM role. It appears Carolina is poised to hire Kansas City’s Brandt Tills as Morgan’s right-hand man.
Could Suleiman return to Pittsburgh? Possibly. The Steelers never wanted to lose him but a larger role and, presumably bigger paycheck, swayed him to leave for Carolina. Hard to blame the guy. What role Suleiman could have in Pittsburgh with Marcoux in the fold is unclear and it might not be prominent enough for Suleiman, who has been climbing the front office ladder. But Khan would likely welcome him back and find a role in the team’s organization if Suleiman wanted to return.
So far, the Steelers’ coaching staff has seen little turnover. The only known departure is Offensive Assistant Glenn Thomas, who reunited with Matt Rhule at Nebraska. In years where a new regime isn’t put in place, front office changes most commonly occur after the draft but adding someone like Suleiman ahead of free agency makes sense.
