I don’t know if it’s just due diligence, smoke or what but this is interesting…
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Go Lions! Thinking big here.
I assume most know this already, but he was the Lions Pro Scouting Director from 1990-1999.
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They’d have to throw the bank at him…but I like the effort.
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Whatever it takes… This move would show the Lions are legitimately serious about righting the ship and saving this franchise from the depths of hell we all suffer through.
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Well, this would be exciting! Why would this cat leave the Steelers? I’m with Dale - We may have to pay him a truckload - Get’r’done! I feel like winning would improve her profit margins, even if money is her primary reason for owning the team. I’d be so happy, if they made this happen.
Imagine…sitting back and watching your team win 10 or 11 times/year in the regular season, and 1, 2, or 3 more in the playoffs. Woooooooooowwww!
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Please!!!
This interest in Kevin Colbert has Spielman written all over it.
Go after big fish with tons of success and experience at the NFL level if you truly want to change this losing culture.
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His number 2 Omar Kahn sounds intriguing.
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This would be a grand slam hire!
Lions “throwing the bank”
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This would be great. I doubt he leaves though.
You make the Godfather offer. You given him autonomy and more money than he could imagine and see if he turns it down. 1 yr deals is about control as well - just a different type. Him wanting 1 yr deals sorta tells me he’d be open to a Godfather offer that gave him (near) autonomy. 1 year deals gives you much more power than a 3-4 year regular contract deal because if you have the power and ability to walk away and go elsewhere they can’t take you for granted or not listen to you.
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We’ll never know unless we make an offer sooooooo back up the brinks truck and give him that Godfather offer. Push all those chips in.
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I guess I’m going to be the voice of dissent here, and say Colbert doesn’t move the needle for me.
I get the nostalgia thing, he and Ron Hughes helped assemble the only winning team many of us ever knew. I know I’m attributing Colbert to be a symbiotic extension of Hughes here, but I also remember things about that era that people seem to forget. Ray Crockett, Jerry Ball, Kevin Glover, and Erik Kramer being allowed to walk. Signing Scott Mitchell among other mistakes. Being too cheap to pursue free agents in the pre salary cap era.
The Steelers let alot of people walk too. It’s a pattern that’s continued.
So, what’s the difference? Why does that matter, right? They do it there, they can do it here, right?
Well, they already tried doing it here, and the team fell apart. The difference is the Steelers have invested extensively in scouting as a means of cost-effective replacement since the 1970’s. They’ve stayed ahead of the curve on that. That’s part of the culture.
Kevin Colbert won’t bring the Steelers scouting department with him if he returns to Detroit. He won’t wave a magic wand and magically make it better either. There’s an entire culture warmly ensconcing the Steelers front office and coaching staff that could never exist here. One man can’t stand in the surf and fight the tide.
The Rooney family is all about football. They are committed to every aspect of it. The Ford’s have categorically proven they could care less. Try explaining to a bean counter why you need more money for something that doesn’t show immediate results on the field.
Colbert would be a fool to leave Pittsburgh, and imo, the Lions would be bigger fools for getting him.
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If he can come here and replace talent that’s leaving with drafted players, that’s a massive improvement over the way things have been done in Detroit for forever. The fact that they had Brown to replace Holmes, then Juju to replace Brown, now Johnson and Claypool to replace Juju… they do this at most positions. They show foresight and the ability to draft players, develop them and plug them into the lineup without missing a beat and not having to pay their best players with expiring contracts. It’s amazing really, to imagine someone working in Detroit that knows how to run an organization and solve problems before they become problems. This is a pipe dream hire… But if they did hire him, I’d sign back up for season tickets… THAT’S how excited I would be.
I like the effort, but I can’t help but think “It’s nice to want things.”
This is entirely my argument against Colbert. In Pittsburgh, Colbert is a round peg in a round hole. The Steelers have spent decades doing this. Their scouting, everything they do is and has been geared towards this type of infrastructure for decades.
Hiring Colbert doesn’t suddenly make our scouting department the same as the Steelers. That’s like slapping Ferrari decals all over a Ford Fiesta and expecting Ferrari results. Imo, Colbert doesn’t fit here.
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Maybe, maybe he comes in and brings in his own scouts or re-trains the scouts we already have… The fact that our scouting department is lackluster isn’t a reason to not hire a successful GM
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Just curious, what does "fit’ here in your eyes? I get that we shouldn’t assume success in one place translates to success in another. That being said, our own culture fit is one of failure.
Colbert did win here, and was involved in building our most successful teams in the early 90’s. I don’t think that would be a culture mismatch with the Lions.