Multiple reports out of Detroit this week have indicated that the Lions are interested in hiring Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert away to be the GM in Detroit. But there has apparently been no formal contact between the teams.
The Steelers have not received a request for permission from the Lions to speak to Colbert, which the Lions would need to do before talking to him, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Colbert’s contract with the Steelers runs through the 2021 NFL draft, so if he doesn’t re-sign with them beyond that and the Lions are willing to wait, they could hire him in four months without the Steelers’ permission. But that would leave the Lions without a GM to navigate free agency and the draft, so that scenario seems unlikely.
More likely is that the Lions are going to hire one of the several candidates they’ve already interviewed.