Since the Steelers are known from promoting within when a coaching or front office is vacant, many believe that the next General Manager will be either Steelers Vice President of Football & Business Administration Omar Kahn or Pro Scouting Coordinator Brandon Hunt, with some saying it could also be a combination of the two.
But three NFL insiders say not so fast.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tells the PM Team that if he had to bet, he would guess the Steelers will stay in house, but wouldn’t be surprised if they do go outside the organization like they did with retiring GM Kevin Colbert.
“Tomlin’s got pretty good relations with everyone in the building,” said Fowler. “I know he’s a big fan of Brandon Hunt, I don’t know if that’s enough to push him over the line or not but the Rooney’s back in the day when they hired Colbert they went outside of the building, they could’ve easily stayed inside so I think that’s why they’re conducting a pretty thorough search here and could do the unexpected.”
Fan Steelers insider Ed Bouchette says he puts the Steelers staying in house at about 50/50.
“I don’t think they’re doing this for show . . . they’re widening the net and looking at some serious people,” said Bouchette talking about the team’s search for GM.
NFL Insider John Clayton believes that the Steelers will go with Khan and Hunt or a combination of them together.
“I think they like to take care of their own, certainly you need to interview a lot of different people to see what’s out there and they interviewed some good people, I don’t doubt that,” said Clayton.
The luxury the Steelers have is time, as Bouchette says Colbert is with the team through the draft so “there’s no rush.”