Days after announcing a two-year extension for head coach Mike Tomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers have announced the very same extension for general manager Kevin Colbert.
Steelers announced a two-year contract extension for GM Kevin Colbert that will keep him with team through at least 2018 NFL Draft.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 25, 2015
Considering Pittsburgh has been a representation of stability over the decades, this latest move shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Tomlin and Colbert have one of the best working relationships in the NFL. In addition to this, their tenures as chief decision makers within the franchise has been successful in recent years.
Colbert has been with Pittsburgh since 2000, first acting as the director of football operations before becoming the team’s first ever general manager in 2010. While the Steelers have stayed out of the free-agent market as much as any team during Colbert’s 16-year tenure with the team, he’s done extremely well from a drafting standpoint. This has enabled Pittsburgh to remain consistently good—a rarity during the salary cap era around the NFL.
Among some of Colbert’s biggest draft-day gems are current stars Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, both of whom were selected outside of the first round.
Since Colbert took over as the head of Pittsburgh’s football operations early last decade, the team has finished with a losing record just one time. During that same span, Pittsburgh has earned nine playoff appearances, three conference championships and two Lombardi trophies.
Needless to say, locking both Colbert and Tomlin up within days of one another is a perfect display of continuity for a franchise that has had three head coaches since Chuck Noll took over for Bill Austin back in 1969.
Photo: USA Today Sports