The Pittsburgh Steelers are hiring a new area scout. According to Neil Stratton of Inside the League, Jim Noel will join the team’s front office and likely help scout the Northeast.
Noel previously was a Northeast area scout for the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs, spending three seasons with both teams. He finished his tenure in Kansas City as a pro scout, and this will likely profile him as a direct replacement for the loss of Dave Pettet, whose contract expired with the team. Petett served as both a pro scout and helped scout the Northeast region, so it would seem that Noel would fill that role.
Once an NFL scout, Noel served in recruiting for Army and Nebraska under Matt Rhule in recent seasons. He has roots in the Northeast, having played defensive back for Boston College from 2009 to 2012. At just 32 years old, Noel will add a bit of youth to the scouting department, but he already has plenty of experience around the league.
Since taking over the front office, Steelers general manager Omar Khan has moved on from some longtime scouts and added plenty of new members to the staff to garner different perspectives around the organization. Noel is the latest addition to that transition as the team looks to turn over a new leaf from Kevin Colbert’s front office.
Pittsburgh’s area scouts are almost entirely new with Khan at the helm. The influence of assistant general manager Andy Weidl is strong throughout the front office as well. Khan’s front office has focused on different priorities from Colbert’s, and they operate much differently than they had previously done so, which is not surprising given all the new voices and Khan’s background in analytics and as a cap guru.