Steelers Name 3 External candidate for General Director position

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On Friday, Pittsburgh Steelers announced that they have complete interviews with three candidates for their soon-to-be-announced general manager jobs, all of whom currently work for fellow AFC teams.

Ryan Cowden (Titans)

The list includes Ryan Cowden, 43, who is the Tennessee Titans’ vice president of player personnel. He’s been with the Titans since 2016, coming to Tennessee after 16 years in the Carolina Panthers’ scouting department.

Cowden oversees all areas of the scouting department for the Titans, including pre-recruiting, free agent preparation, and evaluating players in the NFL and other professional leagues. In addition, he assists with college recruiting and NFL Draft preparation.

Earlier in this hiring cycle, Cowden interviewed to become general manager of the New York Giants, a job previously held by Buffalo Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen.

Ed Dodds (Colts)

Also on the list is Ed Dodds, who has served as assistant general manager for the Indianapolis Colts for the past four years after spending a season as the organization’s vice president of player human resources. Before moving to Indy, Dodds spent a decade working in the Seattle Seahawks’ reconnaissance division. During this hiring cycle, he interviewed with the Las Vegas Raiders and the Chicago Bears for their general manager positions, with his former job being Dave Ziegler.

Wooden JoJo (Charger)

Finally, there’s JoJo Wooden, who has been with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers since 2013 and is now the team’s director of player personnel, tasked with overseeing the college’s professional and college recruiting divisions. team. Before joining the Chargers, Wooden spent 16 seasons with the New York Jets. Back in January, he interviewed for the position of general manager of Bears, a position that had been offered to Ryan Poles.

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The Steelers have 2 internal candidates

As noted by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Steelers also had a pair of internal candidates – Omar Khan and Brandon Hunt – interviewed for the job. It is likely that other external applicants were also interviewed.

According to Ed Bouchette of The Athletic, other potential candidates may include: Andy Weidl, vice president of player personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles; John Wojciechowski, Green Bay Packers’ co-director of player human resources; and Rob McCartney, director of professional scouting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Doug Whaley, former Steelers professional scouting coordinator — now XFL’s senior vice president of player personnel — is also available for an interview.

According to Bouchette, there is also a good chance that Steelers do not hire a new general manager to replace Kevin Colbert and instead split the job responsibilities between the aforementioned Khan and Hunt.

Despite that, the team’s president Art Rooney II indicated that the Steelers likely won’t hire until Kevin Colbert steps down after the end of the 2022 NFL Draft.

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