WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The NFL's annual meeting finished here Tuesday. NFL pro days wrap up next week. And the draft will be held April 28 through the 30.
After that, it will be on to finding a new general manager for the Steelers as their 2022 offseason continues to roll along.
At this point, the Steelers have interviewed 16 people as potential replacements for outgoing GM Kevin Colbert, who will retire from his position after the draft after 22 seasons with the team.
The Steelers have already spoken to internal candidates Omar Khan and Brandon Hunt, ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, Morocco Brown and Ed Dodds of the Colts, John Wojciechowski of the Packers, JoJo Wooden of the Chargers, Ryan Cowden of the Titans, Buccaneers vice president of player personnel John Spytek, former Steelers scout and Bills general manager Doug Whaley, former Titans general manager Jerry Reese, former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, 49ers personnel man Ran Carthon, Andy Weidl of the Eagles, Dan Morgan of the Panthers and Joe Horitz of the Ravens.
According to Colbert, who is assisting team president Art Rooney II with the search, that will conclude the first-round of interviews, meaning his replacement will be one of those 16 people.
"There are a lot of qualified candidates. There are a good folks who have done this position or who we feel have the ability to do this position," Colbert said at the NFL meetings here at The Breakers Resort. "What I did was that I put together a list to give to Art because I know the field a little better than he does because I worked in that field for the last 22 years and know who the talent is. We just tried to identify the capable folks. Honestly, when we started putting together, we just identified people who could do this position. It’s been a very good process.
"The process will pick up after the draft and at that point Art will move forward. Art will be making the decision."
That's when Mike Tomlin will become more involved in the process, as well.
Tomlin has been informed of who the Steelers have been interviewing, but he hasn't sat in on any of those to this point while continuing to finalize his own staff and preparing for the draft. Once the draft is completed, however, he'll take part in the second round of interviews as the candidates are whittled down.
"I’m going to get highly involved when we get on the other side of it," Tomlin said.
Half of the Steelers' candidates are minorities. Rooney, as chairman of the league's REI Committee announced Monday that the league would be increasing scrutiny for hiring practices involving minorities in the league.
But he said that wouldn't affect the Steelers' hiring for GM.
"We're going to hire the best person for the job," Rooney said. "There are qualified candidates that are minorities. We'll continue in that process after the draft."
Some have wondered why the Steelers interviewed so many candidates. But Colbert said the team wanted to be thorough when it came to filling a position that hasn't been open in more than two decades.
"We did have a comprehensive list," Colbert said. "We did add a couple here and there that kind of matched the criteria we had established. It was a long list. I think there are plenty of people out there who are capable of doing this job."
Rooney also said he has gotten no pushback from other team owners or the league regarding the Steelers' hiring of Brian Flores as the team's senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach.
Flores, fired by the Dolphins at the end of last season, filed a lawsuit against the NFL and three of its teams -- the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos -- over what he alleges are discriminatory minority hiring practices.
"We hired Brian because he's a qualified coach and will be an asset to us," Rooney said. "The lawsuit can create an awkward situation at times, but irrespective of the lawsuit, we remain committed, I remain committed to improving the situation every way we can. And I'm working hard to do that.
"I can't really comment on the lawsuit itself. That's something we agreed to allow him to pursue his end of it, we'll pursue our end of it. That will happen outside of the building."
