Kevin Colbert on Deciding to Step Down as Steelers GM: ‘It’s Time’

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert will step down from the team’s general manager role following the 2022 NFL Draft, with someone else serving as the team’s lead personnel man going forward for the first time in 22 years.

That’s a long time at any job, but particularly at the highest levels of professional sports. Colbert served his hometown team well, helping guide the Steelers to two Super Bowl wins and nine division titles. Colbert already has one player he drafted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and more are to follow.

On his way out the door, he will shepherd the team through the beginning of one of the most difficult transitions in his time in Pittsburgh, as the Steelers will go through the 2022 offseason needing to replace 18-year quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Head coach Mike Tomlin, a decade and a half Colbert’s junior but only seven years less experienced with the Steelers, is staying on through that transition, ready to lead a new generation of players in Pittsburgh. But Colbert has decided that this is the right time to hang up the scout’s clipboard.

“It’s something my family and I have discussed, really over the last few years, and that’s why we’ve been asking to do the year-to-year contracts and Art’s been great in allowing us to do that,” Colbert said Monday at a press conference in Pittsburgh, and he admitted that it’s not just a desire to spend more time with his family that has him ready to step away from one of the highest-stakes jobs in sports.

“It’s time, I think, from a personal standpoint, and I think it’s time from a professional standpoint,” Colbert said. “We always have to be open to new ways to do things and more current ways to do things, quite honestly. I encourage our younger scouts to push me in that regard, but the better solution may be outside the organization. We don’t know. I just think from the personal side, for sure, it’s time, but even from a professional side, we have to be open to try to stay ahead of the game.”

That’s not to say that Colbert is permanently headed to the golf course, either. He’s hopeful that after a new general manager is identified — a process he’s been a part of — he can stay on in some type of advisory role.

“I’m not going to use the word retirement, because I may or may not have a role,” Colbert said. “We said we’re not going to definite it as a retirement, because if there’s a way that I can help and not hinder the next person, we’re going to be open to that, but nothing has been decided, nor will it be, until after we get through the interview process.”

While that has yet to be decided, with Colbert’s involvement in the transition at both his position, and in finding the team’s next quarterback, his influence will be felt on the franchise for years to come, regardless of how long he stays attached to the team.