On Friday the Philadelphia Eagles announced the hiring of Brandon Hunt as their Director of Scouting. This appears to be a promotion from the position he held with the Pittsburgh Steelers as Pro Scouting Coordinator. Regardless of whether or not Hunt received a promotion from another team the moment the Steelers chose Omar Khan over him for the General Manager job it seemed like a sure thing that Hunt was leaving town.
Steelers Brandon Hunt discusses the Combine with Steelers.com Reporters Bob Labriola, and Missi Matthews
Hours after the hiring of Khan was official the rumors of Hunt heading to Philadelphia had surfaced. Hunt was interviewed by the Eagles for a high-ranking front office job with the Eagles back at the beginning of May prior to the Steelers decision. The Buffalo Bills also had Hunt in for an interview for their assistant General Manager position about two weeks ago.
This evening Hunt posted what seemed like an emotional message to the city of Pittsburgh.
"Thank you! For bringing me in, allowing me to become a yinzer, a husband, a Pittsburgh dad x2. For truly showing me what blue collar hard work really is. What passion, dedication, commitment, family, faith, and integrity are really all about. I dreamt of the day I would stand before you as your leader. But the music on the juke box has come to an end, and I have run out of tokens. So for now my good city, my family, and I want to say thank you for embracing us as your own and allowing us the opportunity to serve 12 consecutive, 15 in the business, 30 total years in what I believe is the greatest town in all the land. God is amazing...watch what's next. Don't blink."
#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/Mndw8jLG9D
— B Hunt (@Uncommon_Saint) June 3, 2022
Hunt said a lot of amazing things about the city of Pittsburgh and seemingly the Steelers fans. Calling Pittsburgh, the 'greatest town in all the land'.
Interestingly though he didn't thank any of the Steelers organization members. Not Kevin Colbert who he's worked with for 12 years. Not Mike Tomlin, not Omar Khan, and not the Rooney's. Maybe he thanked all of them personally. Surely he did judging by the type of person that we know Hunt is. But it seems like he may still be reeling from the Steelers selection of Khan over himself. And we can understand that.
One thing Hunt did do was leave the door open for a potential return to Pittsburgh in the future. Judging by their search this time for a General Manager it's very important if you have a connection to the organization. Nearly all of the Steelers 6 finalists worked for or had worked for Pittsburgh at some point in their career.
Replacing Hunt in Pittsburgh will be Andy Weidl who was hired away from Philadelphia to be the assistant General Manager to Khan. Weidl has a strong background in scouting something that Khan lacks. Pairing the two together will allow Pittsburgh to cover the business side along with the scouting department.
It was reported last week that the Steelers never approached Hunt and Khan about a co-General Manger position which would've allowed the team to keep both talented candidates.
