Former Steelers CB Ike Taylor to Join Scouting Staff

Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor will join the team’s front office as a member of the scouting staff, he said in an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Thursday.

Taylor, 42, played his entire 12-year NFL career with the Steelers, starting 140 games with the team from 2003-14. Taylor was part of the Steelers’ Super Bowl XL and XLIII winning teams.

“Scouting has always been a dream of mine,” Taylor said. “I always thought I had an eye for it. Obviously, they think I have an eye for it. I’ve just got to button up on the grading scale and exactly how the Pittsburgh Steelers now want to do it with the new GM Omar Khan. That’s where I’m at. I’m super excited.”

"I'm gonna be a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers" ~@Ike_SwagginU

LET'S GOOOO IKE #PMSLive #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/4yhtEXr9h0

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 25, 2022

Taylor will join fellow former Steelers players Chidi Iwuoma and Mark Bruener on the scouting staff. Taylor played with Iwuoma from 2003-05 and Bruner in 2003. Taylor said his interest in become a scout dated back to his playing days, when he asked and received permission to sit in on the team’s scouting meeting and was in the team’s war room on draft day.

“I think I was one of the first active players to actually be in the draft room on draft day, or just sit in draft and scouting meetings while I was playing,” Taylor said. “During the draft day, Mr. Rooney, Coach T, the Rooney Family and Kevin Colbert at the time, they allowed me to sit in draft day meetings and on draft day.”

Taylor said they asked him to leave the room when it was time for the team to draft a cornerback. Drafting defensive backs has been a sore spot for the Steelers nearly since Taylor’s playing days. From 2015 t0 2019, the Steelers used five third-round or better picks on cornerbacks, and got only one consistent starter out of the bunch in Cam Sutton. Perhaps the ex-cornerback can help the team improve in scouting his former position.

Since 2005, Taylor has run the FaceMeIke youth football camp in New Orleans. Taylor is also the host of the BLEAV in Steelers podcast. He was an analyst for NFL Network from 2015-17, before he and two other staff members were suspended following sexual harassment allegations.