PITTSBURGH — The Philadelphia Eagles are the only remaining unbeaten team in the NFL, and the personnel executive who rebuilt the Eagles into a Super Bowl contender will play a major role in reshaping the Steelers roster this coming offseason.
New Steelers general manager Omar Khan hired Andy Weidl to be assistant general manager overseeing the personnel department. For Weidl, a Mt. Lebanon native, it was a homecoming that was 25 years in the making.
Weidl started his scouting career with the Steelers in 1998 as an intern and had the opportunity to learn from Hall of Fame scout Bill Nunn and director of football operations Tom Donahoe, a Weidl family friend who attended South Hills Catholic in the mid-1960s with Andy’s father, George.
“We always tried to make our internship position so difficult that it would weed people out,” Donahoe said. “You didn’t want people who didn’t want to pay the price. A lot of people think the NFL is about coming to games and the social aspect of it. You have to be a grinder, and Andy always was a grinder.”
Steelers interns don’t have a job description. They merely do whatever is asked of them. Weidl could be a chauffeur, secretary and cameraman all in the same day.
Some of his tasks included picking up players at the airport and bringing them to Three Rivers Stadium for workouts, driving injured players to doctors appointments and arranging travel for the team. At practice, he might be asked to videotape team periods for the coaches.
“It’s a [crap] job,” said Donahoe, who spent 38 years in NFL front offices before retiring earlier this year. “It entails anything and everything that comes up. He never complained. ‘Oh, I have to do this? Is this part of the job?’ The more we gave him, the more he wanted to do. What you look for are people who can make a difference.”
In between the gofer tasks, Weidl impressed the front office with his football acumen, too. Nunn, one of only a few people in the Steelers organization to earn six Super Bowl rings, was one of his mentors. Others in the organization at the time included head coach Bill Cowher and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, whom he would later join in New Orleans when Haslett became the head coach for the Saints.
“You could tell right from the beginning he was cut out to do personnel work,” Donahoe said. “He had a real passion for football, which you have to have. And he had a real eye for talent, which you have to have.”
An ‘unbelievable’ resume
When Weidl’s internship with the Steelers ended, he was hired by the Saints to be a combine scout and then their Northeast area scout. In addition to Haslett, he worked under general managers Randy Mueller and Mickey Loomis.
New Orleans also is where Weidl first met Khan, who began his NFL career with his hometown Saints. They only spent one season together, but they forged a close relationship.
When Khan was hired by the Steelers in 2001, he came to a new city when he was 24 years old. Weidl eased the transition. Whenever Weidl came home for visits, he would introduce Khan to his friends on nights out on the town. Khan was with Weidl and his friends when he met his future wife, Aimee.
In 2005, former Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome hired Weidl to be a northwest area scout. He also served as a northeast area scout and east region scout in 12 years with the Ravens, who made the playoffs seven times in that span and won Super Bowl XLVII following the 2012 season.
Weidl learned under Newsome, who had a Hall of Fame career as a player and an executive. Newsome taught his scouts to be thorough and have conviction as an evaluator. Baltimore is where he learned to stand up for players he believed in.
Once Weidl is done with his evaluation — a time-consuming undertaking that includes campus visits, coach and player interviews and endless hours of film study — he’s ready for debates with co-workers.
“He goes to bat for the guys he believes in,” said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, who worked alongside Weidl as a scout with the Ravens. “He’ll try to challenge the room. He doesn’t tiptoe around his evaluations.
“There was one time in Baltimore there was an argument in the room about two players. And Ozzie loved when this happened. He encouraged it. Andy wasn’t backing down for this other scout. At the end, he stood up and said, ‘As soon as this meeting is over we’re going to watch the tape again.’”
In his second year with the Ravens, Weidl and Jeremiah both wanted the Ravens to take Oregon defensive tackle Haloti Ngata with their first pick. There were differing opinions on Ngata, a 6-foot-4, 340-pounder who specialized in stopping the run. While word on the street was Ngata didn’t always play hard, Weidl’s behind-the-scenes work with Oregon’s coaches revealed he had been playing through an injury.
The Ravens traded up to the No. 12 spot in the draft to select Ngata, who would go on to earn All-Pro honors five times in a 13-year career.
“Wherever he’s been and whoever he’s been around, Andy has had influence,” Jeremiah said.
In 2016, Joe Douglass hired Weidl to be his top lieutenant in Philadelphia’s personnel department. The move to the Eagles also reunited Weidl and Donahoe, who worked for 10 years as a senior football advisor for the Eagles.
The Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017, and in 2020, when Douglass moved on to become the general manager of the Jets, Weidl got his first shot to run a draft. Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman had final say, but Weidl graded the players and set the board.
“If you look at the drafts in Philadelphia and look at how much he improved those teams, you know he knows how to do it,” Donahoe said. “We won the Super Bowl, then we were down for a little bit with talent on the roster, and then he built it back up again.”
Rebuilding Steelers roster
Weidl did not arrive in Pittsburgh until late May, well after the Steelers had constructed their roster and put most of the pieces in place for 2022. Since then, a handful of former Eagles have made their way onto the practice squad, including defensive lineman Rennel Wren, offensive lineman William Dunkle, running back Jason Huntley and defensive back Elijah Riley, who spent two seasons in Philadelphia when Weidl was there.
“I think he’s the reason I’m here,” said Riley, who was claimed on waivers on Aug. 24 after being released by the Jets. “He helped me get acclimated to the NFL.”
Riley said Weidl invests in players who have the same outlook on the game that he does.
“He wants guys who love football,” Riley said. “He wants football dudes. He doesn’t want guys who are in it for the glitz and the glamour.”
Weidl’s influence will be felt most once this season ends. He is currently evaluating 2023 draft-eligible players with the other scouts, and he’s leaning on his quarter century’s worth of experience with some of the game’s best evaluators to guide him.
Donahoe called Weidl’s resume “unbelievable.” Donahoe regards Newsome as one of the best general managers in NFL history and Nunn one of the best scouts of all time.
Jeremiah said Weidl will take a little bit of something from each of his mentors.
From Nunn and Donahoe, he learned the secrets of scouting and the importance of strong relationships with coaches. From Newsome, he learned how to listen and to advocate for players he believed in. From Douglass and Roseman, he learned how to wheel and deal and the value of players and draft picks.
So how will Weidl approach retooling the Steelers roster?
Donaoe and Jeremiah did not hesitate when asked. Each said Weidl has the core belief teams must be strong in the trenches.
“I think you can look at what Joe did with the Jets and that will be a pretty good indication,” Jeremiah said. “He poured a ton of resources into the offensive and defensive lines. Then you have to get corners and playmakers. I think that’s the blueprint for Andy his first couple of offseasons.”
Weidl’s three drafts in Philadelphia also provide clues. His affinity for big defensive tackles hasn’t wavered since lobbying for Ngata all those years ago. The Eagles chose humungous defensive tackle Jordan Davis out of Georgia with the No. 14 overall pick in the spring. Davis, Steelers fans will remember, was often linked to the Steelers in the pre-draft process.
The Eagles also invested heavily in offensive linemen under Weidl’s watch. He picked Landon Dickerson in the second round of the 2021 draft and took Cam Jurgens in the second round this year. Dickerson has been a starter since last season, and Jurgens is ticketed to be the replacement for Jason Kelce once he retires.
“Andy earned his shot in Philly, and he’s earned this opportunity,” Donahoe said. “And he’ll take full advantage. If they let Andy do what he can do — set the draft board, work free agency, work the personnel side of things — he’ll be a huge plus for the Steelers. The Steelers hit a major home run with this hire.”
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