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The Pittsburgh Steelers have are expected to hire Omar Khan as their next general manager to replace Kevin Colbert, who has retired after leading the team’s football operations since 2000.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the news on Tuesday.

In addition, the Steelers are expected to hire Philadelphia Eagles vice president of player personnel Andy Weidl as their assistant GM, per Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports Network and 93.7 The Fan.

Khan will be just the fifth football operations leader in franchise history since 1971.

There’s always been little turnover in leadership positions within the organization, as the team has only had three coaches since Chuck Noll was hired in 1969.

The Steelers certainly hope Khan continues the tradition of stability and excellence in Pittsburgh as the team looks for its seventh Super Bowl title.

However, Khan will have a tall task ahead of him with the team now searching for a long-term quarterback after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger.

The Steelers have a clear-cut top pair of options on the roster in Mitch Trubisky, who signed a two-year deal with Pittsburgh this offseason, as well as rookie Kenny Pickett, who went No. 20 overall in the 2022 NFL draft out of Pitt.

The good news is that the Steelers have talent to surround their signal-callers.

The game’s best defensive player, edge-rusher T.J. Watt, is coming off a 22.5-sack season, while defensive lineman Cameron Heyward excelled yet again with 10 sacks.

On offense, wideout Diontae Johnson snagged 107 passes, and running back Najee Harris led the team with 1,667 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns. The 6’4″ Chase Claypool (59/860/2) presents a big target, and tight end Pat Freiermuth (60/497/7) also showed promise in his first year. Those skill-position players are joined by rookie wideout George Pickens out of Georgia.

Pittsburgh is coming off a 9-7-1 season that ended with the Steelers sneaking into the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 7 seed. They lost 42-21 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.

Ultimately, there’s talent to work with for Khan, who has been with the Steelers’ organization since 2001. He’s worked as the vice president of football and business administration since 2016.

Prior to landing in Pittsburgh, the 44-year-old served in the New Orleans Saints’ football operations department from 1997-2001. He then moved to the Steelers, working as the football administration coordinator (2001-2011) and director of football administration (2011-2016).

He was a candidate for the Houston Texans’ GM job in 2020, but owner Cal McNair opted to go with the New England Patriots’ Nick Caserio.

However, Khan’s first GM opportunity will come with Pittsburgh as his hard two decades of work finally paid off for a well-deserved chance.

As for Weidl, his NFL career is coming full circle. He started in the league in 1998 as a player personnel assistant for the Steelers and stayed there for two years. Weidl then left for the New Orleans Saints (2000-2004), serving as a national combine scout for three years before becoming a Northeast area scout for two.

Weidl then moved onto the Baltimore Ravens, working there from 2005-15. He went from West area scout (2005-2008) to Northeast scout (2009-2012) to East regional scout (2013-2015).

Then Weidl went to Philadelphia in 2016. He was the assistant director of player personnel in 2016 and 2017, winning a Super Bowl in the latter year. Weidl was then promoted to president of player personnel in 2018 before getting another promotion to VP of player personnel in 2019.

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