First and 10: Steelers New Front Office Blends Old and New

By Alan Saunders

·May 31, 2022

Steelers GM Omar Khan President Art Rooney Salary cap

The Pittsburgh Steelers interviewed 16 candidates when looking to replace Kevin Colbert as general manager, and 14 of those candidates came from outside the organization.

The Steelers ended up hiring one of the two internal candidates in former vice president Omar Khan, and in many ways, his promotion — with Colbert likely to stick around as an advisor — will be seen as a continuation of Colbert’s tenure.

But Colbert admitted early in the process that one of the the reasons he felt the time was right to step down was that he felt the game starting to pass him by in some areas. The Steelers have a strong connection to their history, and that connection to the Steelers ways of doing things, passed down from previous generations, has been stubborn if not intransigent.

Change is necessary and vital to any organization, and in interviewing 14 outside candidates, Art Rooney II got a good sense of where those outside the organization would take the Steelers. They hired Andy Weidl from the Philadelphia Eagles and Sheldon White, most recently with the Washington Commanders, to both shore up the scouting department after the expected departure of Brandon Hunt, and also bring in some of that outside perspective that can help propel an organization forward.

Both Weidl and White also have a deep understanding of that Steelers way of doing business. Weidl is a Pittsburgh native and got his NFL start with the Steelers front office. White’s son Cody, is a third-year wide receiver with the club.

With Khan and Rooney’s guidance, the Steelers will make changes following the departure of Colbert. But their hirings suggest the process will be one that has a deep understand and respect for the reasons things were done the way they were done in the past and the impact those changes will have.