Kevin Colbert Would 'Love' To Have Le'Veon Bell Finish Career With Steelers
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - As he gears up for an off-season that has his team as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl next season, Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert joined The Starkey and Mueller Show to discuss what plans he has for shaping the team.
Looking at the upcoming NFL Combine, free agency and draft, Colbert gave us an idea of what he'll be looking to do in order to improve his roster.
"We're comparing notes and preparing a list as to who we want to interview at the combine with Coach Tomlin and myself and the coordinators. We get to pick out 60 guys," Colbert said. "After we finished that, we moved into our free agency meetings dealing with the unrestricted free agents."
Colbert also shared with us how they go about evaluating their own roster and the influence that has on the free agents and draft selections they'll make.
"We always begin the meeting by talking about the players we have on our current roster, their strengths, their weaknesses, how they compare with the groups of free agents that will be available first and foremost, and then you really tie in the strength of the draft class into all of those discussions and it's really just an evolving evaluation from this point until we get to the draft," he said.
One of the biggest decisions the team will have to make this off-season is what to do with running back Le'Veon Bell who has just one year remaining on his contract.
Team President Art Rooney II previously said the team is interested in locking Bell up despite having not seen his surgically repaired knee back in action. Colbert elaborated on that and what he's expecting to try and get done this off-season.
"We never talk about individual contracts, but Le'Veon has proven himself to be really a special NFL runner," Colbert said. "He's really exceeded our expectations."
When asked if there have been any conversations with Bell and his representatives about a possible contract extension, Colbert wouldn't comment specifically on the matter but added that "all I can say is, we'd love to have Le'Veon Bell and a lot of other guys finish their careers here."
Click the link below to hear more from Colbert as he also talks about NFL players we've seen retire early and how, as a GM, they have to react to losing a player they expected to have.