A little more than halfway through the almost-four years of his current tenure spent as Pittsburgh Steelers assistant general manager, Andy Weidl during the 2024 training camp made an observation about the organization.
“Turnover,” Weidl said, “it’s part of the business. Doesn’t happen a lot here. You know, there’s always continuity and stability in Pittsburgh.”
That is being put to the test this month. Within 10 days of the Steelers’ season ending via a wild-card round playoff loss, the head coach (Mike Tomlin) has resigned and the man who is No. 2 in the football operations department has interviewed for a job with another organization.
That would be Weidl, a Mt. Lebanon native who formally spoke Thursday with the Atlanta Falcons about their vacant general manager position.
Calling Weidl’s resume “extensive and impressive,” the Falcons’ official website confirmed Weidl’s interview with new team president of football Matt Ryan.
“Weidl is widely connected and has been part of front offices that assembled teams for head coaches like John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin,” read the Falcons’ announcement about its interview with Weidl. “The list of front office individuals with whom Weidl has worked is even more extensive.”
Among those are, of course, Steelers general manager Omar Khan, Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, former longtime Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, Los Angeles Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz, current Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta and New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.
“Weidl has a long history,” read the atlantafalcons.com story, “of finding and evaluating talent to build some of the league’s most competitive teams of the last two decades.”
For almost four years now, that’s been with the Steelers as lieutenant to Khan. The Steelers created the position for Weidl after he was a finalist for the general manager’s job in the wake of longtime GM Kevin Colbert’s retirement after the 2022 draft.
In layman’s terms, Weidl has been tasked more with evaluation of talent, both pro and college. It should be noted, though, that the division of labor between Khan, Tomlin and others in the Steelers football operations hierarchy is more nuanced.
“I think it’s everybody working together as one for a common goal, right?” Weidl said during one of his annual media availabilities since he joined the Steelers. “You have alignment and everybody’s pulling the same direction. When you have that, you’ve got to obviously have the talent. You have to have the right people on the bus. When you have that and everyone’s going in the same direction, that’s when you can achieve greatness.”
As one of five known candidates the Falcons put out requests to interview — and one of the first two, joining Houston Texans assistant GM James Liipfert, who did interview — there is no guarantee Weidl is leaving the Steelers.
If he did, though, it would be less than ideal with the NFL combine less than five weeks away and the draft about three months from taking place.
Weidel sets the Steelers’ draft board. The three drafts since Weidl’s hire have to date produced no fewer than 12 starting-caliber players.
Others the Falcons intend to interview are Kansas City Chiefs assistant general manager Mike Bradway, Chicago Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham and San Francisco 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams.
Weidl joined the NFL as a Steelers scout in 1998-99 and first met Khan while working for the Saints from 2000-04. He spent the next 11 years with the Ravens, including their season (2012) as Super Bowl XLVII champions.
He was the Eagles’ vice president of player personnel when the Steelers hired him away. Under the widely-respected Roseman, Weidl was part of the inner circle that built Philadelphia into an NFC power that won last year’s Super Bowl, played in the Super Bowl two years before that and has won the NFC East three of the past four seasons.
Even if Weidl remains with the Steelers, this offseason will differ from any others over the past two decades because it will be without Tomlin and with a new coach and staff, one that might have differing philosophies or priorities in regards to player acquisition.
“The place where we’ve had the most success is that we’re an extension of the coaching staff,” Weidl said about organizational mindset.
“We’re going to go out and find players who fit the job description and fit the type of culture in the program that he has here. That’s important, that you have that alignment (with the coaches). And when you have that working and you have that alignment, great things are possible.”