Kevin Colbert Admits What Really Went Wrong In Recent Steelers Draft Failure

Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager Omar Khan is trying to clean up the mess that former GM Kevin Colbert left him. It’s not like Colbert, on his way out of town in the 2022 NFL Draft, tried to set up Pittsburgh for failure. In fact, Colbert had already announced he was stepping down but chose to stay on and help lead the final draft process so he wouldn’t hurt the Steelers heading into a new era. Still, the results from that class have become impossible to ignore, especially with not a single player from the 2022 draft remaining on the roster. Even more concerning, none of those selections earned a second contract in Pittsburgh, making it one of the most disappointing draft hauls in recent franchise history.

That’s a tough reality for Steelers fans, considering the organization has long prided itself on drafting and developing talent better than most teams around the league. The 2022 class was supposed to help lay the foundation for the future, but instead it quickly turned into a forgettable group that failed to make a lasting impact. Now, Khan and Mike McCarthy are left reshaping the roster while trying to restore the type of long-term roster stability Pittsburgh once consistently had under Colbert during his peak years.

That’s why when Colbert joined The Larry & Big Man Show, Steeler Nation paid close attention to what he had to say. Fans were eager to hear some honest reflection from the former general manager, especially regarding where things went wrong late in his tenure. Colbert struck a chord with Steelers fans when he openly discussed what led to some of his draft mistakes and misses, offering rare insight into how he evaluated prospects and where he believes the process sometimes fell short.

"Please remind me, but I always told them, look, when you can quantify the intangibles, then we got something," Colbert said. "Again, the mistakes I made, you know, were just the heart and the smarts. You can’t measure those."

There were times when Colbert selected a player believing he had a good read on their heart and intelligence but ultimately ended up being wrong. He explained that most draft misses happen because some things truly can’t be measured. 

In an era where analytics rule, especially in professional sports, Colbert’s breakdown was eye-opening as he reflected on the old ways and the new ways of trying to evaluate prospects.

"Analytics [are] good for them, I didn’t grow up in the analytic age," Colbert said. "Analytics are everywhere, and the young folks coming up, they don’t have a choice. Everything is kind of dictated via electronics and analytics… we would use an analytic person in our process, and I asked him, when we’re talking about a player, remind me if he had 15 sacks, six of them came against double-A talent or whatever."

It’s a longstanding debate between the younger and older generations over the role analytics should play in sports. While numbers and data have become more important than ever, there is still the question of how to quantify the intangibles that are much harder to measure.

Steelers Fans Love Hearing From Kevin Colbert

That’s the challenge every general manager and organization faces as the game continues moving more and more toward analytics. Teams can track nearly everything now, but leadership, toughness, football IQ, and competitiveness still aren’t easy to fully capture on a spreadsheet.

Steelers fans loved hearing such a close and personal perspective from the man who served as the team’s general manager for 12 seasons. Colbert played an instrumental role in shaping two Super Bowl rosters, and his legacy in the Steel City will always be remembered because of that, even with a questionable draft class on his way out. Now Steelers fans wait to find out what Aaron Rodgers is going to do.

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