The Pittsburgh Steelers underwent major changes in a matter of months.
Longtime quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ended his 18-season career after their Wild Card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Meanwhile, Kevin Colbert resigned as the team’s general manager after the 2022 NFL Draft.
In his last hurrah with the squad, he drafted quarterback Kenny Pickett in the first round.
He also took wide receivers George Pickens and Calvin Austin.
Colbert became the team’s first-ever general manager after becoming the team’s director of football operations for ten years.
Since his tenure in Pittsburgh, the team made three Super Bowl appearances, winning Super Bowls XL and XLIII.
In 2016, he was also named vice president aside from being the general manager.
Now that he’s retired, the team has started the search for their next general manager and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo revealed the identity of some candidates.
Garafolo tweeted, “The #Steelers will have a second round of interviews for their vacant GM job. Among those who have been scheduled are the #Titans’ Ryan Cowden and the #Buccaneers’ John Spytek, sources tell me, @RapSheet and today’s @gmfb cohost @TomPelissero. Others will interview, too.”
The last sentence confirms that there will be more than two candidates.
A Glimpse Into Cowden And Spytek’s Careers
The New York Giants also interviewed Cowden earlier this year but ended up hiring Joe Schoen.
He became the Tennessee Titans’ Vice President of Player Personnel in 2018 and has been with the team for six seasons.
Cowden has handled various positions in the league for 22 seasons.
But for his job with Tennessee, he oversaw scouting, player evaluation for the draft, and free agency preparation.
Meanwhile, the 2021 season was Spytek’s sixth with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He has been in the league for 18 seasons and was promoted from director to Vice President of Player Personnel.
He helped build the team that won Super Bowl LV.
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