Although Kevin Colbert‘s lengthy Steelers GM tenure will not conclude until after the draft, the team is beginning to meet with potential replacements. Three external candidates interviewed for the job this week.
Titans VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden joined Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds and Chargers director of player personnel JoJo Wooden in meeting with Steelers president Art Rooney II in Mobile, Ala., during Senior Bowl week, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes.
All three came up in at least one other team’s GM search this year. Dodds met with two other teams — the Bears and Raiders — ahead of his Steelers interview, which also likely included Colbert and Mike Tomlin, who are also in Mobile. Cowden met with the Giants last month, while the Bears targeted Wooden before hiring Ryan Poles. Steelers vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan is also a candidate to succeed Colbert.
While Pittsburgh is in need of a starting quarterback for the first time in nearly 20 years, Colbert’s impending departure vacates the team’s GM chair for the first time in more than 20. Colbert, however, is open to staying with the Steelers in a reduced capacity, Dulac adds (on Twitter). Colbert has been with the Steelers since 2000.
With the Colts since 2017, Dodds withdrew from both the Bears’ 2022 GM search and the Panthers’ search process last year. The former Seahawks exec also pulled out of the Browns’ GM search in 2020. Cowden is in his sixth year with the Titans, coming to Tennessee after 16 years with the Panthers. Wooden has been with the Chargers since Tom Telesco‘s GM tenure began in 2013.
It worked for DeCosta and Newsome in Baltimore (at least so far), so keeping Colbert on in an advisory role should give Steelers fans some confidence here. There’s a lot of turnover going on for an organization that tries to avoid it, so having Colbert around should make life much easier, especially with the new GM not having to come in and immediately have to do the draft right off the bat.
Colbert is leaving after the draft. So there’s still this draft with him. But yeah, any way he can help the transition will benefit the Steelers
Yes, that’s what I was referring to. Sorry if it wasn’t clear. But I think that this is the best way for a team to transition up top-getting ready for the draft as a new GM must be one of the hardest parts of taking over.
Nowhere to go but down replacing Colbert. He was one of the best…..except when drafting DBs, lol.
Ouch. That really…Burns!
Colbert is a bigger loss to the Steelers than Ben.
This is a prime example of why Pittsburgh stays competitive year after year. They don’t hit the panic button after a down year, the Rooney are patient and let people in their organization do their jobs, and at a point like this when a change is necessary they prepare and patiently employ a well-thought plan. They’ll wind up choosing a solid football guy who works well within the team concept. My disappointment among these truths is that I’m a Browns fan. Hopefully my team has finally learned to operate more like their rivals.