The Pittsburgh Steelers are hiring Jim Noel as an area scout, according to Inside The League’s Neil Stratton, who tweeted the news a short time ago.
The #Steelers are adding Jim Noel as a new Area Scout. Noel comes to the team after having served 3 yrs w/the #Browns as NE Area Scout and 3 yrs w/the #Chiefs, finishing as a Pro Scout. He’s also served in recruiting w/@WestPoint_USMA & @HuskerFootball.
— Neil Stratton (@InsideTheLeague) May 27, 2024
As Stratton notes, Noel’s most recent NFL position was a Northeast Area Scout for the Cleveland Browns, hired in 2018 and with the team through 2021. He will likely help replace the area lost by Dave Petett, who left the team earlier this year and traditionally covered the Northeast region, though Petett was promoted to the Pro Scouting side after Omar Khan became GM. This past draft cycle, the team pieced together its Northeast coverage with Phil Kreidler handling some of that workload though it’s possible he retires in the near future.
According to his LinkedIn page, Noel became a campus recruiter at West Point for one year beginning in May 2022. Most recently, he served as an assistant at the University of Nebraska alongside head coach Matt Rhule. Throughout his scouting tenure, he’s also worked on the pro scouting side of things with the Chiefs and Browns.
Noel, like the rest of the team’s area scouts, will be responsible for scouting his region and the colleges and prospects who comprise it. College scouts don’t scout specific players or positions. They scout regions, making it easier to travel to schools and build relationships with coaches and assistants.
Prior to becoming a scout, Noel played safety at Boston College from 2009 to 2012. There, he recorded 115 tackles and seven interceptions. He also served as team captain. Noel briefly played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks before embarking on his scouting career.
His hiring is another change and addition to the Steelers’ scouting department, one that’s undergone plenty of turnover since Khan took over in May 2022.
