When Omar Khan took over as general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers in May 2022, he knew he had a tall task as part of a transitionary period for the Black and Gold.
He might not have expected it to be this difficult, though.
Since taking over, Khan has been much more active in free agency and via trades, aiming to plug holes as quickly and efficiently as possible, holes that were left behind from the end of the Kevin Colbert tenure in the Steel City.
Draft misses, not retaining guys on second contracts, and spending relatively big in free agency, all while still having a number of holes to plug has the Steelers in a “bad cycle” of player acquisition, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo.
Appearing on the “North Shore Drive” podcast with host Christopher Carter of the Post-Gazette on Wednesday, Fittipaldo stated that draft misses and then the need to plug those holes in free agency birthed a bad cycle that Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl need to get the Steelers out of.
“That’s kind of the vicious cycle that they’re in right now. When you count on a free agency to fill your holes, I think there’s an inherent risk in that too, ’cause you don’t know those players as intimately as the players that you develop,” Fittipaldo said of the recent additions in free agency for the Steelers. “So, they’re in a bad cycle now. They gotta get out of it and, listen: Omar Khan and Andy Weidl had a good first offseason.
“I think they’re gonna have to have a good second offseason to sort of make up some ground here to make up for some of those mistakes.”
That might seem harsh coming from Fittipaldo, but sometimes the truth hurts.
The Steelers’ drafts in the final years of Colbert were rather poor.
No player remains from the 2018 NFL Draft after the release of Chukwuma Okorafor. Of course, Mason Rudolph could still re-sign, but he’s in limbo. In the 2019 class, only Diontae Johnson remains, and he’s entering a contract year.
The 2020 draft class has only Alex Highsmith on the roster, while the 2021 roster has just four players left from it.
In total, the Steelers have just six players out of 31 picks from 2018-21 on the roster. That is…not good.
Missing on Devin Bush after a trade-up necessitated the Steelers spending in free agency on the likes of Cole Holcomb, Kwon Alexander and Elandon Roberts. Letting Terrell Edmunds walk in free agency led to the signing of Keanu Neal on a two-year deal.
Even the failure to develop Kevin Dotson and the trade of Chase Claypool had the Steelers spending in free agency to sign Isaac Seumalo and trading for Allen Robinson II on sizable contracts. Same for the Kendrick Green experiment leading to the Mason Cole and James Daniels signings.
The Steelers are undoubtedly in a bad cycle right now. Khan and Weidl have to break that cycle. As Fittipaldo pointed out, they had a great offseason last spring, nailing the draft and making some shrewd moves in free agency. But the Steelers have to get back to the ways of drafting well, developing those players and retaining them like they used to during their days of contention.
