Colbert Ranket #19 Best GM

[steelhurt]

here is an ongoing discussion/debate between Pittsburgh Steelers fans in regards to general manager Kevin Colbert. Some view Colbert as a GM who has done a tremendous job putting together teams who can consistently compete, and hasn't seen a losing record since Mike Tomlin took over the team. However, others view Colbert as incompetent and his drafting has been skeptical at best.

Rotoworld.com decided to take it upon themselves and rank all 32 NFL general managers, and for the Steelers' Colbert, the results weren't pretty. Out of 32 GMs, Colbert ranks 19th. Take a look at what Rotoworld had to say about Colbert and his ranking:


19. Kevin Colbert, Steelers
Last Year's Ranking: 23

Kevin Colbert is unreasonably good at drafting receivers. The rest? Let's just say he's lucky to have Ben Roethlisberger. Colbert has let the Steelers' typically elite defense slip into mediocrity, while finding offensive linemen capable of keeping Roethlisberger upright has proven a daunting challenge for the Steelers' personnel man. Colbert's line was improved in 2014, but his collection of 53 players still failed to win a playoff game for the fourth time in as many years. With Dick LeBeau and Troy Polamalu both gone, Colbert is running out of connections to the Steelers' 2000s golden age, which will only shine a brighter light on his roster failures. Colbert has been around for some boom times, but the further the Steelers get from the Bill Cowher era, the less clear it gets just how much of an asset Colbert really is.

Although Colbert moved up 4 spots from last year's ranking, the endorsement given by Rotoworld is far from glowing. Showing the fact Ben Roethlisberger has been a saving grace for the Steelers and Colbert in terms of covering up some shaky positions of need on the team's roster.

The latter part of the summation is possibly what has most fans squirming, and this is the reference to the post-Bill Cowher Steelers. Many thought Mike Tomlin won Super Bowl 43 with Cowher's team, but the fact as more and more Cowher drafted players leave the team via retirement and release, the team is left with a near bare cupboard and that is the fault of those pulling the trigger on draft day and in free agency.

The top 5 GMs in the NFL, according to Rotoworld are the following:

1. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
2, Ozzie Newsome, Baltimore Ravens
3. John Schneider, Seattle Seahawks
4. Ted Thompson, Green Bay Packers
5. Mike Brown / Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals


By Jeff.Hartman  @BnGBlitz on Apr 15, 2015, 4:50a

 

[steelhurt]

This further makes me feel as though Cowher was the catalyst and true talent evaluator and not Colbert so much. These two Colbert and Tomlin haven't had the success that Colbert Cowher had. Just sayin'.

 

[Wingman]

Well with out yet reading the article Mike Brown and the Bengals are number 5? were talking about a team that was a perennial top ten draft selector for a very long time. Is there a link to this master piece or does it require a subscription to read. I did a google search to find it and I will read it now thanks.

After reading it the article seems to be a rather fluff piece with out a lot of research. The only things looked at are records and a couple of selections. Selections that we really don't know who made, head coach, owner, GM etc. I suspect in many groups the process is a bit muddled and not really clear. It does not seem to take into account draft position as if your picks are in the top five odds are you should do much better than you would picking after the top 20 or 25 picks have been taken. The point regarding the picks not being as good on defense after Bill as they were before Bill left has validity but in and of itself is inconclusive.

Looks like one of those things that fill the time between the super bowl and draft day. I think I have read better discussions on here regarding the GM than were presented by this writer, regardless of the position one favors, as the posts were generally more in depth and better thought out.

Rottor world based on this one you don't measure up to the guys on Steeler Nation even though they did not bother to rank the other GMs.

 

[Punxsutawney]

Well with out yet reading the article Mike Brown and the Bengals are number 5? were talking about a team that was a perennial top ten draft selector for a very long time.

Recent performance seems to take precedent over career performance in their rankings.

I'm not sure I'd rank Brown quite that high, but the Bengals have had one of the better overall rosters in the league over the past several seasons.

Colbert is probably ranked about right, though one could make case for him being lower.

 

[xjx]

Looks about right to me. Looks like Cowher was the real talent evaluator.

 

[FSF]

saw a rating system on NFL where it ranked Colbert as the 5th best GM with 12.9% of his players drafted making a Pro Bowl -- only 4 GMs had more success.

Just sayin

 

[Coach]

As a draft guy Colbert can be decent at times. Other times too many of his picks in rounds 1-3 turn out to be disappointments or busts. As a GM who balances the cap and signs free agents, I find him lacking. Yeah - 19th out of 32 is about right.

Colbert drafted better I think under Cowher.

 

[SteelerFan448]

Colbert drafted better I think under Cowher.

There are all kinds of draft stats that you can look at to compare the drafts under both coaches, but IMO, all you need to see is that the Cowher/Colbert drafts yielded some of the greatest Steelers players of all time and multiple Hall of Famer players. I've yet to see that with the Tomlin/Colbert drafts.

 

[Stryker]

Too be fair, Colbert drafted D better under Cowher and O better under Tomlin.

I'd also have Ozzy at #1. And to think, it took a move to Baltimore to split up Bellicheck and Ozzy...

 

[Vader]

Too be fair, Colbert drafted D better under Cowher and O better under Tomlin.

I'd also have Ozzy at #1. And to think, it took a move to Baltimore to split up Bellicheck and Ozzy...

I think drafting Ben and Miller make this offense go. They drafted one HOF in Ben and one of the best TEs in the league. This offense goes nowhere without Ben.

I still think it is very clear that the HC has huge input on the draft. How did Colbert go from not being able to find a WR to finding them all over the place? How did he go from finding defensive players to finding none almost over night? The evidence suggests that the HC has a ton of input on the draft.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Colbert is running out of connections to the Steelers' 2000s golden age, which will only shine a brighter light on his roster failures. Colbert has been around for some boom times, but the further the Steelers get from the Bill Cowher era, the less clear it gets just how much of an asset Colbert really is.

Yee-haw!!!

The latter part of the summation is possibly what has most fans squirming, and this is the reference to the post-Bill Cowher Steelers. Many thought Mike Tomlin won Super Bowl 43 with Cowher's team, but the fact as more and more Cowher drafted players leave the team via retirement and release, the team is left with a near bare cupboard and that is the fault of those pulling the trigger on draft day and in free agency.

This Jeff Hartman guy has been reading the board and stealing my stuff.

 

[Stryker]

I think drafting Ben and Miller make this offense go. They drafted one HOF in Ben and one of the best TEs in the league. This offense goes nowhere without Ben.

I still think it is very clear that the HC has huge input on the draft. How did Colbert go from not being able to find a WR to finding them all over the place? How did he go from finding defensive players to finding none almost over night? The evidence suggests that the HC has a ton of input on the draft.

You can throw Ward there as well. Though We're now drafting RBs and WRs that most teams would covet. Line drafting has been pretty good as well (since Pouncey is the next great steeler center). I'd like to see some CBs pan out, since that should be Tomlin's area of expertise. DE seems fine and ILB is a strength, we just need a NT, OLBs and DBs.

The odd thing is Dick was with both coaches, and his scheme never changed. I'd expect the D drafting would be more consistent since DL was a common thread. Some say it's a head coach, others say it's because of DL's success, that most of the league plays a 3-4 and the tweeners go early on potential now. A matter of perspective, perhaps?

 

[Wingman]

You can throw Ward there as well. Though We're now drafting RBs and WRs that most teams would covet. Line drafting has been pretty good as well (since Pouncey is the next great steeler center). I'd like to see some CBs pan out, since that should be Tomlin's area of expertise. DE seems fine and ILB is a strength, we just need a NT, OLBs and DBs.

The odd thing is Dick was with both coaches, and his scheme never changed. I'd expect the D drafting would be more consistent since DL was a common thread. Some say it's a head coach, others say it's because of DL's success, that most of the league plays a 3-4 and the tweeners go early on potential now. A matter of perspective, perhaps?

I believe Donahoe was the gm when Ward was drafted, as he later drafted Edwards instead of Jevon Kerse and that is what made the rift between him and the chin public and brought about the him or me issue.

 

[Confluence]

Bungled at 5?

Article must be ****.....next

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

The top 5 GMs in the NFL, according to Rotoworld are the following:

1. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
2, Ozzie Newsome, Baltimore Ravens
3. John Schneider, Seattle Seahawks
4. Ted Thompson, Green Bay Packers
5. Mike Brown / Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals

What a joke. They talk about Ben covering up for weakness. Brady has been doing that for years. The Pats currently have 2 great players, Brady and Gronk. That's it. Belichick does a great job of coaching and getting the most out of guys but in terms of draft, he's one of the worst.

Are we going to give him credit for being a great GM for bringing in Revis?

 

[insaniti]

Recent performance seems to take precedent over career performance in their rankings.

I'm not sure I'd rank Brown quite that high, but the Bengals have had one of the better overall rosters in the league over the past several seasons.

Colbert is probably ranked about right, though one could make case for him being lower.

So the knock on Colbert in THIS article is that he still couldn't win a playoff game despite winning the division. You think the Bengals have one of the better overall rosters in the league, but what exactly have they won? They haven't won a playoff game in 25 years.

What a joke. They talk about Ben covering up for weakness. Brady has been doing that for years. The Pats currently have 2 great players, Brady and Gronk. That's it. Belichick does a great job of coaching and getting the most out of guys but in terms of draft, he's one of the worst.

Are we going to give him credit for being a great GM for bringing in Revis?

And how is it Newsome is ranked 2nd after that contract he gave Joe Flacco, or the ones he gave Ngata and Suggs... you know the three deals that have COST them players. He hasn't exactly drafted well offensively. Does he just get a pass for them missing the playoffs two years ago, then jump back up the list because they beat us in the playoffs without one of our most important players on the field?

I find the list pretty weak myself. I'm not arguing that Colbert should be ranked among the best in the league, but the choices he's made for the top 5 is questionable to say the least.

 

[SCSteeler4life]

Bengals at 5 , I'll pass on that ****. I'd rank Colbert somewhere in the middle. Some good picks , but not consistent enough.

 

[Vader]

You can throw Ward there as well. Though We're now drafting RBs and WRs that most teams would covet. Line drafting has been pretty good as well (since Pouncey is the next great steeler center). I'd like to see some CBs pan out, since that should be Tomlin's area of expertise. DE seems fine and ILB is a strength, we just need a NT, OLBs and DBs.

The odd thing is Dick was with both coaches, and his scheme never changed. I'd expect the D drafting would be more consistent since DL was a common thread. Some say it's a head coach, others say it's because of DL's success, that most of the league plays a 3-4 and the tweeners go early on potential now. A matter of perspective, perhaps?

I think the OL is being bailed out by Haley and his "get the ball out quick" philosophy. That's why I hated BAs offense. He was getting Ben killed and the OL wasn't that good. I still don't think they are that good but Ben can move and he is getting the ball out quicker. They still need to do a better job of drafting defense. DE is ok but nothing great. ILB is ok but not great. They have some depth there however which is more than I can say for OLB.

Ward was drafted by Donahoe and Cowher.

I don't buy into the "more teams are playing the 3-4 so talent is harder to come by" statement. Every team plays 2-3 WRs and almost every team has a good WR or two. There are lots of teams that play the 4-3 as well. But you still have to find the talent. I think the league is about half and half 3-4 to 4-3.

 

[Bigappleyinzer]

Rotoworld? lol


Hold on guys... Let's wait and see what Bleacher Report has to say before we jump to any conclusions...:cpu:

 

[Coach]

There are all kinds of draft stats that you can look at to compare the drafts under both coaches, but IMO, all you need to see is that the Cowher/Colbert drafts yielded some of the greatest Steelers players of all time and multiple Hall of Famer players. I've yet to see that with the Tomlin/Colbert drafts.

This is true. Why is this so? My take is Cowher input on who to draft was a bit better than Tomlin's.

 

[Coach]

I think the OL is being bailed out by Haley and his "get the ball out quick" philosophy. That's why I hated BAs offense. He was getting Ben killed and the OL wasn't that good. I still don't think they are that good but Ben can move and he is getting the ball out quicker. They still need to do a better job of drafting defense. DE is ok but nothing great. ILB is ok but not great. They have some depth there however which is more than I can say for OLB.

Ward was drafted by Donahoe and Cowher.

I don't buy into the "more teams are playing the 3-4 so talent is harder to come by" statement. Every team plays 2-3 WRs and almost every team has a good WR or two. There are lots of teams that play the 4-3 as well. But you still have to find the talent. I think the league is about half and half 3-4 to 4-3.

I agree with Vader. In addition to a get the ball out quicker, the Steelers have a very hard cover in Brown, a scary deep threat in Bryant, a good #3 guy in Wheaton, a very good pass catching back in Bell, and a reliable big TE with hands. This is the best set of " skill " players in the NFL!

Blitz the Steelers and fail, your odds of giving up something big are much higher than normal NFL teams. My point is our skill players force the defense to back off a bit, which makes it a bit easier for us to pass and pass block, and gives Bell a bit more room to run.

I don't view Haley as an offensive genius. In fact he had some goofy run calls on 3rd and long, and for a while didn't use the skill players in passing. But the addition of Bryant and Bell has transformed the offense. Now he's playing to our strengths. It took Haley a little bit longer than I wanted, but he's calling better games lately.

 

[steelhurt]

I'm ok with Mike Brown rated that high. He's not the coach who doesn't seem able to get his team to the next level. Aside from being the owner the guy has brought in some pretty good talent through the drafts and hasn't missed much at all. This is just another example of not having a franchise QB an that's all it is with the Bengels. If they had lets say a Philip Rivers, forget about it, they would go deep in the playoffs and most likely be a super bowl team. If we don't have Ben this is not a top 5 offense and we win maybe 5 games. I'm concerned when Ben retires and the team of Tomlin and Colbert what they bring in as a replacement. Their track record on QB's so far sucks. Landry Jones anyone?

 

[bermudasteel]

Here's a suggestion - and I haven't read past post #2 yet...

Why not hire Mr. Cowher as the GM???

 

[insaniti]

I'm ok with Mike Brown rated that high. He's not the coach who doesn't seem able to get his team to the next level. Aside from being the owner the guy has brought in some pretty good talent through the drafts and hasn't missed much at all. This is just another example of not having a franchise QB an that's all it is with the Bengels. If they had lets say a Philip Rivers, forget about it, they would go deep in the playoffs and most likely be a super bowl team. If we don't have Ben this is not a top 5 offense and we win maybe 5 games. I'm concerned when Ben retires and the team of Tomlin and Colbert what they bring in as a replacement. Their track record on QB's so far sucks. Landry Jones anyone?

So the Bengals get a pass because of the coach, Colbert gets beat down because of the coach. Lewis has more public say in who they draft than Tomlin does (thus the Brown/Lewis tag for the Bengals). This board is absolutely hilarious when it comes to our coach/gm compared to the rest of the league. We've won two superbowls and been to a third, there were Cowher players and Tomlin players on all the teams, and one common factor... Colbert. That's better than ANYTHING the Bengals have EVER done. We've drafted a lot of good players, some have left the team and gone elsewhere, some have returned, some players were brought in via FA that have worked out rather nicely as well. But the hate and nit picking that goes on with our own GM/ coach is so obvious when you start comparing them to their counterparts it's hilarious. Other teams get passes for the same exact things that Colbert and Tomlin get ridiculed for.

And anyone trying to compare LATE ROUND QB picks to what the future may bring when Ben retires is laughable. Landry Jones, Landry Jones, Landry Jones... Congratulations, you piked a QB that was drafted in the FOURTH round as your one standing example of their ability to draft a QB...smh

 

[Coach]

Here's a suggestion - and I haven't read past post #2 yet...

Why not hire Mr. Cowher as the GM???

I'd rather have Mayock as the GM. Cowher's best stuff was motivation, accountability among the players, sideline coaching, and building a very good team around some average to bad QB's until Ben came around. Well--O'Donnell was decent enough

The players liked him and played hard for him. There were less " bad apples " when he was around. The fans seemed to like him as well and it added to our home field advantage which has declined as of late. Bill could fire up the fans. These days I see people leaving early, less noise and too many empty seats, even last year when we were 11-5.

Cowher hired a very good group of coaches who were loyal to him in Erhardt, Gailey, Mulakrey, Wisehhunt, Capers, LeBeau, and Haslett. The one major miss was T. Lewis and Cowher parted ways with him quickly. Most of these guys became head coaches.