Home 2015 Off-Season Steelers Add Much-Needed New Eyes to the Scouting Department

Steelers Add Much-Needed New Eyes to the Scouting Department

by Steeldad

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced this past weekend that they have hired former New Orleans Director of College Scouting Rick Reiprish. According to steelers.com, Reiprish brings 35 years of personnel experience to the team’s personnel department.

Reiprish will officially be the Senior Assistant of College Scouting.

Reiprish spent the last 11 years with the Saints and was recently let go as part of a big shake-up in their scouting department. There may be some hesitation about why the Steelers would hire a guy right after he was fired, but this is typical for many teams after the draft.

If they haven’t been happy with their recent drafts then it’s not unusual for the scouts to get the ax first.

I don’t think it comes as any surprise that the Steelers needed to make some moves in the scouting department. More than once has General Manager Kevin Colbert and the scouts of this team been the focus of this writer’s ire in recent years.

What we as fans have to understand first and foremost is that scouting isn’t perfect. If it were, some teams would have an even bigger monopoly on the game then they already do.

The fact that the Steelers have brought Reiprish on board is a sign in my opinion that they’ve realized that a fresh set of eyes was needed. Reiprish brings a lot of experience and I can understand that some fans might look at this hire as not being radical enough.

There are many, many good scouts and college analysts out there who are waiting for an opportunity to work for one of the NFL’s 32 teams. Perhaps they can bring the type of vision needed to observe and evaluate today’s college football player.

While I understand that line of thinking, adding Reiprish is a solid step because he went have any problem with authority. A younger, newer scouting director may be unwilling to share an opinion or differing viewpoint in front of Colbert or Head Coach Mike Tomlin.

Reiprish has been in the business too long to be that way. While he isn’t any position to overrule his superiors on a particular player or group of players, I don’t believe he’ll have any problem sharing his thoughts and this is exactly what is needed.

photo courtesy saints.com

 

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