Kevin Colbert choked up as he spoke about the final NFL Draft of his 22 years with the Steelers, moments after the team made its final selection on Saturday.
Colbert, who announced earlier this year that he was retiring at the conclusion of this draft when his contract runs out, was asked Saturday where he felt he had left the franchise.
Colbert, who presided over one losing season three Super Bowl appearances and two wins in 22 years as the Steelers' personnel director started to answer before choking up when talking about those two championships and the late Dan Rooney.
"I'm proud that we added to that room," Colbert said, referring to the study at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex where the team keeps its Lombardi trophies. "There were four trophies when we got here. We knew the task."
At that point, Colbert became emotional and had to stop himself for a moment before continuing:
"You think about DMR (Rooney) and being able to add to that room means a ton. It doesn't mean it's over. The next step, we've got to get more of them. We'll never lose that. But it means a lot."
Colbert said he will stay on until Art Rooney II officially hires a replacement. The Steelers have already interviewed 16 candidates and are expected to pare that down to a list of finalists in the coming weeks when they conduct second interviews.
But Colbert also has repeatedly stated that he would like to continue in some capacity with the team -- if possible.
"I would anticipate that Art will address that and bring coach and I back up to speed," Colbert said. "I made my initial recommendations. We interviewed some great people, including two great internal candidates. There's a lot of people that can do this. There's probably some that can do it better. Time will tell, but Art will dictate when it's time to move onto that next step. He'll dictate how we want to go about it, how he wants to go about it, and ultimately, he'll make that decision with whatever input he asks of us."
In the meantime, Colbert and Mike Tomlin can get about the business of preparing for the 2022 season now that the 2021 draft is in the books, including this draft.
The team added what it hopes to be a franchise quarterback in the first round on Thursday night in Pitt's Kenny Pickett and then added more offensive weapons, as well.
In fact, after taking offensive players with its first four picks in 2020, the Steelers drafted offensive players with five of its seven picks in this draft.
The team had a definite plan to upgrade and continue building the offense in a way that will fit second-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada's style.
• Colbert's first draft pick in 2000, wide receiver Plaxico Burress, will be remembered. History will show the final pick of the Colbert era was quarterback Chris Oladokun of South Dakota State, the second of two seventh-round selections in this draft.
For the Steelers, it appears the 2022 NFL Draft was about good things coming in twos.
They opened the third day of the draft by selecting speedy wide receiver Calvin Austin of Memphis in the fourth round with a compensatory pick the team received for the loss of linebacker Bud Dupree in free agency. That came after the team took Georgia wide receiver George Pickens in the second round of the draft Friday night.
The selection of Oladokun marked a rare double dip into the quarterback market after the Steelers selected Pitt's Kenny Pickett in the first round. It marked the first time since 2012, when both the Colts and Commanders selected Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, respectively, that a team has taken a quarterback in the first round and then selected another later.
"We had good grades on him," Colbert said of Oladokun. "We said, 'Look, we're going to add another quarterback to our roster.' This young man, we brought in and he really impressed us, not only on the field, but off the field talents and intelligence, but his demeanor."
Did he give any thought to that being the last pick of his career?
"It hit me for a minute," Colbert admitted.
But Tomlin was quick to add that the rest of the staff tried to get that moment to sink in and made a big deal of it.
"It's not in his DNA. We tried, but we led him to the doorstep," Tomlin said.
The finality, though, will likely hit Colbert at some point. Just not yet.
"It's like a game," Colbert said. "When the game comes to an end, you appreciate it and think about it, but you'll really think about it when you really will reflect on it when it gets quiet. 'Well, wait a minute, what do I have to do next?' I don't know. It means a lot. The last pick? We hope it's the best pick."
• After taking Pickens in the second round of the draft Friday night, the Steelers could have been out of the wide receiver market, as well. But like they did at quarterback, the team double-dipped there, adding Austin in round four with the compensatory selection it received for the loss of linebacker Bud Dupree.
While Pickens is 6-foot-3, Austin is 5-foot-8, 170 pounds. Austin caught 137 passes for 2,202 yards and 19 touchdowns the past two seasons at Memphis.
"Really excited about them. (They're) very different guys, but you need differing skillsets in the receiver room," said Tomlin. "(Pickens) and why we're excited about him. We just think there's a heck of a lot more meat on that bone. His talent was very evident, his health was very evident at his pro day. We got a bird's eye view of an extended workout at that pro day and were very comfortable with what we saw, the things he is able to do. The pedigree is very exciting.
"We were equally as pleased with Calvin. Calvin is a smaller guy, a stop-start guy, punt return capable. It seems like over the last several years, the offensive skill position at Memphis, they've had a lot of dynamic playmakers. He's just the latest. We were excited to add him. He brings a different skillset as a guy who probably works inside as a potential jet sweeper. Pickens is a big guy that has little guy stop-start. We're excited about that. Calvin is a little guy who has made some plays outside down the field. So, we're excited about that."
Both guys bring big-play potential to the mix, but in different ways.
Pickens is a big, downfield threat, while Austin is a pure speed player -- timed at 4.32 second in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine -- who also has excellent quickness.
"I think anytime we are hunting at the receiver position, that's what we're hunting for," Tomlin said. "It just comes in varying shapes and sizes."
• The Steelers selected Connor Heyward, the younger brother of Cam Heyward, in the sixth round. It now gives them four brother combinations on their roster, including T.J. and Derek Watt and Terrell and Trey Edmunds. The Steelers also have the Davis twins, Khalil and Carlos.
But the Steelers didn't take Heyward, a 5-foot-11, 233-pound fullback/tight end from Michigan State, just as a favor to his older brother.
"Cam just happens to be his big brother. I say that and I mean it," said Tomlin. "Connor's resume speaks for itself. He's a Swiss Army knife. He's very talented. He has a nice skillset. He's a capable runner. He's capable in blitz pickup. He's a tough guy. He's very capable in the screen game, timing and feel. He made some plays downfield in that offense as a tight end. He's a physical guy. We imagine he can be an offensive contributor and on (special) teams. He was very worthy of that consideration, and I didn't want to water that down in any way by including big brother."
In fact, though the younger Heyward was mock drafted to the Steelers quite often, the team kept its plans from both brothers.
"I always felt like they were interested, but I didn’t want to get my expectations too high," Connor Heyward said. "My brother was just as surprised as I was,,and we were both just extremely happy. I’m not born in Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh means a lot and he’s involved a lot. So, this just means that much more to me."
It goes to figure that little brother could be living with big brother for a while.
Guess I got a roommate @ConnorHeyward1
— Cam Heyward (@CamHeyward) April 30, 2022
• The Steelers did not add an offensive lineman in this draft. But both Tomlin and Colbert were quick to note the Steelers were active in free agency with offensive linemen.
The team not only re-signed right tackle Chuks Okorafor, but also added James Daniels from the Bears and Mason Cole from the Vikings, lessening the need to get more offensive line help.
"When we went into free agency, that's what we were hoping for," Colbert said. "When we came away with two guys who are center-guard capable and having Kendrick Green in that same talent pool is comforting because you have three guys who can play center and guard. Collectively, it's nine years worth of service we have in that group. That lessens the desire to add to the interior. And there's only certain things we can do. If you had more picks, you can add more players. But we felt we wanted to add more players in different spots."
The Steelers feel comfortable with what they have on the offensive line to help improve a running game that was last in 2020 and improved only slightly to 29th in 2021.
""We added to that mix in free agency," Tomlin said. "There are two ways we add to that talent pool, free agency and the draft. We felt really comfortable with what we were able to do in free agency."
• While Pickett went in the first round, another quarterback wasn't selected until the third round of this draft.
But the Steelers, who had done extensive homework on this year's quarterback class, weren't concerned with where the others went and who took them.
"We were just comforted to know we had Kenny in the fold," Colbert said. "I'll repeat, that group is a quality group. I suspect a lot of those players will come away as starters. Their teams selected them where they selected them. If it works out for them, great for them. I hope it works out for those young men. It was a quality group. We put Kenny through the same process we put the rest of those guys through, just to make sure we didn't take anything for granted. In doing it, you learn so much about them ... it was a good group. I was surprised, but sometime things break differently. But while they were breaking, we were comfortable knowing we had Kenny Pickett."
• The Steelers didn't add a defensive lineman until taking DeMarvin Leal from Texas A&M in the third round. With Tyson Alualu now 35 and coming off a broken ankle that sidelined him for all but five quarters in 2021 and Stephon Tuitt having missed the 2021 season due to a knee injury and the death of his brother, some speculated the Steelers might add to that group earlier.
All-Pro Cam Heyward also turns 33 next week, while Tuitt is 29.
"We always want to be adding young defensive linemen," Colbert said. "Cam's not getting any younger. Tyson's not getting any younger. Stephon's right at coming out of that prime age. We've got to keep bringing youth. We did it last year with (Isaiahh) Loudermilk. It's encouraged to keep that youth along that line. So, when a guy like Leal was there, that wasn't a hard choice.
Tomlin agreed.
"You can never have enough high-pedigree bigs," he said.
The Steelers remain optimistic when it comes to Tuitt's return this season.
"I don't know that there's a timetable," Tomlin said. "We're comfortable with where we are. From a calendar standpoint, where he and we are all heading."
• The Steelers have until 4 p.m. Monday to make a final decision regarding whether to pick up the fifth-year option on linebacker Devin Bush, the team's 2019 first-round draft pick.
The team didn't select a linebacker in this draft until taking Mark Robinson with the first of their seventh-round selections. But it did add Myles Jack and Genard Avery in free agency and also selected Buddy Johnson in the fourth round of last year's draft at the position.
"We wanted to get through this weekend. We'll talk about that on Monday. That's the deadline," Colbert said. "We understand it has to be made by then. We were focused on this weekend and making sure we got this weekend right. We'll make those decisions on Monday."
• The Steelers went a little off the board with their first pick of the seventh round, taking Robinson from Mississippi. But they feel they might have gotten a diamond in the rough.
Robinson was a running back at Presbyterian University before the program dropped scholarships, forcing him to move on to Southeast Missouri. After one season there, he sat out the 2020 season after transferring to Ole Miss, which converted him to linebacker.
He finished the 2022 season with 92 tackles in his only season at the position.
"We felt he really got better as the season went on," said Colbert. "His best football is ahead of him."
• The Steelers signed 10 undrafted rookies at the completion of the draft, offensive tackles Jake Dixon of Duquesne and Jordan Tucker of North Carolina, running backs Matteo Durant of Duke and Jaylen Warren of Oklahoma State, outside linebackers Tyree Johnson of Texas A&M and T.D. Moultry of Auburn, cornerbacks Chris Steele of USC and Bryce Watts of Massachusetts, guard Chris Owens of Alabama and defensive lineman Donovan Jeter of Michigan..
Johnson is probably the highest-pedigree player of that group. He had 18 sacks in his career at Texas A&M, including 8.5 last season, matching Leal, the Steelers' third-round draft pick, for the team lead.
