Is Steelers GM Kevin Colbert planning to retire after the 2022 NFL Draft?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are making a lot of ‘win now’ moves, but here’s why Kevin Colbert may not have the face the financial repercussions of his decisions. 

Immediately following the 2020 season that ended in disaster for the Steelers, we did not know what the future held for this team. General manager, Kevin Colbert, was in the final year of his contract and we didn’t know for certain how the team was going to go about retaining Ben Roethlisberger.

Over half a year later, most of these questions have been answered – at least for the present. Colbert signed a one-year extension in March that will keep him on as the Steelers GM through the 2022 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, the Steelers could be in a bit of a pickle down the road.

In an effort to maintain a competitive roster for the upcoming season, Colbert and his staff in the front office have dished out a handful of voidable-year contracts. The purpose of these deals is to keep a player’s cap number low for the 2021 season and push dead money into the future after their contracts expire.

Stephon Tuitt and Joe Schobert are the most recent examples of this. To free up additional cap space in 2021, Pittsburgh added voidable years to each of their contracts to kick some dead money down the road.

While this is a sound philosophy to try to compete for a Super Bowl this season, Colbert may not even be around to see the financial repercussions of his business decisions for the Steelers.

Is Colbert hurting Steelers chances in the future?

Kevin Colbert has been operating as the Steelers general manager year-to-year for some time now. However, there are plenty who believe that really could be his final contract with the team and that new management could take over after the 2022 NFL Draft. If that ends up being the case, then Colbert won’t be forced to deal with the ramifications of the voidable-year contracts he issued and he won’t be here to help rebuild this team.

Don’t get me wrong, I think what Colbert has done is brilliant. He’s been able to salvage Pittsburgh’s roster on a year where they had a remarkable amount of turnover due to the salary cap drop because of the pandemic.

Most fans would take a shot at another Super Bowl title in an instant – even if it means kicking the can down the road and not having as much money to rebuild the team with in the years to come.

Unfortunately, many disagree on the legitimacy of Pittsburgh’s chances at a Super Bowl this year – even with all of the moves they have made this offseason. So much of the team’s success hinges on Ben Roethlisberger and the offensive line. If these things don’t improve by leaps and bounds in 2021, Colberts moves could prove to be all for not.

I have little doubt that Kevin Colbert is one of the best general managers in the NFL, and he has been largely responsible for building championship rosters in Pittsburgh. Sadly, we have to consider the possibility that he could be gone soon, and the Steelers will be left to pick up the pieces.