Tag: Kevin Colbert

Report: Former Steelers GM headed to college

Kevin Colbert is taking his talents to Fort Collins.

According to ESPN reporter Pete Thamel, former Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert is headed back to college. Thamel is reporting that Colbert is joining the Colorado State University football program as a consultant.

The Rams are bringing in Colbert to help CSU stay up to speed with the ever-changing landscape of college football. In simplest terms, Colbert is being brought in to help with the financial side of NIL deals and college football becoming a spend-to-win league.

Colbert worked in the Steelers front office from 2002-2022 and helped build two Super Bowl champion rosters. Colbert stepped down after the 2022 NFL draft leaving way for Omar Khan to become the Steelers new general manager.

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Failed drafts a huge reason for Steelers shortcomings

Kevin Colbert failed bigtime in his final five drafts.

If a team wants to be a consistent winner, doing well in the NFL draft is a top priority. First and second-round picks are typically the impact guys early and develop into the best players on the team. This fact is what makes the list of players below so frustrating.

From 2018 to 2022, Kevin Colbert was the Steelers general manager and based on these picks, it feels like he played a five-year prank on the franchise before leaving. Here is the rundown of the top two picks fro each of Colbert’s last five drafts.

  • S Terrell Edmunds: 28th overall in 2018
  • WR James Washington: 60th overall in 2018
  • LB Devin Bush Jr.: 10th overall in 2019
  • WR Chase Claypool: 49th overall in 2020
  • RB Najee Harris: 21st overall in 2021
  • TE Pat Freiermuth: 55th overall in 2021
  • QB Kenny Pickett: 20th overall in 2022
  • WR George Pickens: 52nd overall in 2022

We didn’t include 2023 or 2024 in this for a couple of reasons. First, those aren’t Colbert drafts and this is the point. Also, those draft classes are just too early to pass judgement on.

There’s a real possibility when the 2025 season starts, the only player on this list still on the Steelers roster is tight end Pat Freiermuth. Running back Najee Harris is about to hit free agency and we won’t be at all shocked if the Steelers trade troubled wide receiver George Pickens.

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Where Mickey Loomis ranks among the NFL’s 10 longest-tenured general managers

How Mickey Loomis compares among the NFL’s 10 longest-tenured general managers in win percentage, playoff records, and championships:

Mickey Loomis has been calling shots for the New Orleans Saints for a long time. There isn’t another general manager — or at least no one who share that title — who has held the job as long as he has in pro football. But how much more experience does he have than his peers?

Sure, there are de facto GM’s like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown, but they ceded personal control to trusted assistants years ago. At the end of the day Loomis is involved with every decision the Saints make in free agency and on draft day, either okaying the suggestions of his staff or making the call himself. With contemporaries like Bill Belichick and Kevin Colbert leaving storied franchises the Saints try to emulate, Loomis is left alone.

And the gap between him and the next generation of GM’s around the league is staggering. Here’s how Loomis stacks up among the NFL’s 10 longest-tenured executives:

Breaking down the remaining Steelers from the last seven NFL drafts

Kevin Colbert’s final few drafts haven’t really panned out.

So far, Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager Omar Khan has been aggressive in how he runs this team. His first draft in charge was 2023 and by all accounts was one of the best in many years. In hindsight, it feels like former GM Kevin Colbert mailed in his final few drafts. Here is a look at the last seven Steelers drafts and who is left on the team.

NFL analyst misses the mark big-time in criticism of Steelers GM Omar Khan

Marshall Faulk calls out the wrong Steelers general manager.

Everyone makes mistakes. But when you are a highly paid NFL analyst, you had better get your facts straight before you start talking. Former NFL running back Marshall Faulk went on “The Rich Eisen Show” and in his criticisms of the Pittsburgh Steelers, completely missed the mark about general manager Omar Khan. See if you can spot where it all goes wrong for Faulk.

“I believe Mike Tomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers, when they lost their GM, that’s the difference in this team,” Faulk stated. “The talent doesn’t look like the Pittsburgh Steelers talent. The Pittsburgh Steelers used to draft the best available talent, not what they needed. If you start drafting what you need you get in trouble. So you gotta take the best available talent.”

If we are being fair. Faulk was half right. The level of talent in the Steelers drafts hasn’t been great over the past half dozen seasons or so. However, those drafts belonged to former general manager Kevin Colbert. Not current general manager Omar Khan. Khan didn’t take over the team until after the 2022 NFL draft.

Khan orchestrated the 2023 NFL draft which yielded multiple high-level rookie starters and could be the best draft the Steelers have had in a decade.

There’s no doubt problematic drafts are a part of what is holding the Steelers back, but that doesn’t fall on Khan.

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Steelers officially name Omar Khan as general manager

After months of interviews, the guy was under their roof the whole time.

News broke late yesterday that the search for the next Pittsburgh Steelers general manager had ended. Omar Khan would be named the successor to Kevin Colbert. After months of interviews, the guy was under their roof the whole time.

The announcement came quicker than expected as the Steelers made the move official today.

“Omar has been an integral part of our football operations department during his 21 years with the team, and that experience will serve him well in his new position,” Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II said in a statement.

Khan has been in Pittsburgh’s front office since 2001. After being the director of football administration, Khan was promoted to vice president of football and business administration in 2016.

Today begins a new chapter for which he’s been preparing decades.

“I am ready for this challenge and grateful to continue the success we have had on the field during my first 21 years,” Khan said per Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. “I look forward to completing our football operations staff and working tirelessly to build another championship football team for Steelers Nation.”

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Eagles VP of Player Personnel Andy Weidl to be named Steelers’ new assistant GM

Philadelphia Eagles Vice President of Player Personnel Andy Weidl to be named the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new assistant General Manger

Andy Weidl is heading home to Pittsburgh, but it won’t be as the Steelers’ new general manager, and instead, he’ll be named the assistant GM according to Aditi Kinkhabwala.

A key fixture in Philadelphia with 24 years of NFL scouting experience, Weidl just completed his sixth overall season with the Eagles and his third as the team’s vice president of player personnel.

Weidl originally joined Philadelphia’s scouting department as the assistant director of player personnel (2016-17) under current Jets general manager Joe Douglas.

During the 2018 offseason, Weidl was promoted to director of player personnel.

Weidl’s exit will now mark the fourth departure for a key front office member following Brandon Brown, Ian Cunningham, Tom Donahoe, and Catherine Raîche out the door, with only the longtime scout Donahoe, not landing in a new situation.

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Eagles’ VP of Player Personnel Andy Weidl gets 2nd interview for Steeler GM job

Philadelphia Eagles’ VP of Player Personnel Andy Weidl lands 2nd interview for Pittsburgh Steeler GM job

The Eagles are in jeopardy of losing another key front office member after the Steelers announced that Andy Weidl has landed a second interview for their general manager job.

A key fixture in Philadelphia with 24 years of NFL scouting experience, Weidl just completed his sixth overall season with the Eagles and his third as the team’s vice president of player personnel.

Weidl has played an integral role in helping construct rosters that have produced playoff appearances in four of the last five seasons, including two NFC East championships (2017 and 2019) and a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

A Pittsburgh native, Weidl originally joined Philadelphia’s scouting department as the assistant director of player personnel (2016-17) under current Jets general manager Joe Douglas.

During the 2018 offseason, Weidl was promoted to director of player personnel.

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Did Steelers GM Kevin Colbert drop a hint on possible trade with Giants?

Did Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert unintentionally reveal that he’s considering a possible draft day trade with the New York Giants?

Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, who will retire following the upcoming season, met with reporters to discuss the 2022 NFL draft on Monday. And during his press conference, Colbert openly talked about the possibility of trading both up and down.

Perhaps more specifically, Colbert outlined two very detailed scenarios. One of those was weighing the options and value of trading down from No. 20 to No. 32 overall. The other scenario is something that may interest the New York Giants (and their fans).

While breaking down a potential trade up, Colbert honed in on pick No. 7, which is currently owned by the Giants.

“We’ll guesstimate what it’ll cost to move from 20 to 7 and from 20 back down to 32,” Colbert said. “And you’re always making those assessments.”

Talking a trade back to No. 32 doesn’t seem at all specific since it’s the final pick in Round 1. But trading up to No. 7? Why No. 7? Why not No. 10 or No. 5 or even No. 1?

Was that a freudian slip by Colbert? Is it just the highest point he believes the Steelers can get to based on the pick value chart? Or was it just an obligatory choice of numbers?

There are several teams reportedly looking to trade down in the draft and a few of them currently reside in the top 10. The Giants, of course, are one of those — provided they get a return that general manager Joe Schoen feels comfortable with.

Colbert’s comment could mean something or it could mean nothing, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on.

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Where Howie Roseman landed in a power ranking of all 32 NFL GMs

Where Philadelphia Eagles Howie Roseman landed in an NFL.com power ranking of all 32 NFL General Managers

NFL team decision-makers are not exempt from seeing their stock rise and fall like the Nasdaq, and as Eagles general manager Howie Roseman prepares for another NFL draft, his status among his peers has seemed to take a hit.

Roseman was once considered one of the top GMs in the NFL, but over the past few years, his draft-day decisions have caused a slide in general manager rankings.

Around this time last April, Roseman was ranked among the worst executives in football, and that was one year after another top-5 ranking.

In a recent ranking from NFL.com’s Greg Rosenthal, Roseman landed in the middle of the pack, garnering an average ranking.

14) Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles. Like Bill Belichick, Roseman badly needed a rebound after a string of mostly shaky drafts — and the Eagles GM got it with DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, and Milton Williams. The Jalen Hurts pick also looks pretty good now; Philadelphia got league-average starting-quarterback play from a second-rounder on a rookie contract. There have been some massive ups and downs in Roseman’s reign, but he’s settling in here just above average, like the Eagles’ nine-win seasons in three of the last four years.

Brandon Beane of the Bills and Les Snead of the Rams landed at the top of the list, with the Steelers, Packers, and Chiefs landing in the top-5.

Signing the 2018 class to contract extensions is a feather in Roseman’s cap, but the 2019 selection of J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and the 2020 selection of Jalen Reagor have dragged the Eagles’ general manager down a peg after he passed on Pro Bowl wide receivers in back-to-back NFL drafts.

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