Omar Khan’s two drafts as NFL general manager have been quality and almost universally praised. Talented players, correct value, hitting the team’s biggest needs. While the board has broken well in Pittsburgh’s favor, it’s been pretty easy determining who they would – and wouldn’t – select.
Over his two drafts, nine of his 14 picks have been pre-draft visitors, including local ones. That’s 64.3 percent of the team’s selections. To be clear, the Steelers’ draft picks are made by three men: Art Rooney II, Mike Tomlin, and Khan. I use “his drafts” to signify Khan’s era as the team’s GM.
To the list of nine, four came in 2023, and a whopping five in 2024. Here’s the group.
2024
OT Troy Fautanu (1st round)
C Zach Frazier (local – 2nd round)
ILB Payton Wilson (3rd round)
OG Mason McCormick (4th round)
DL Logan Lee (6th round)
2023
OT Broderick Jones (1st round)
CB Joey Porter Jr. (local – 2nd round)
NT Keeanu Benton (2nd round)
TE Darnell Washington (3rd round)
Seven of those nine are Day One or Two selections, with the two exceptions coming this season.
Of course, it’s no shock to see the Steelers draft guys brought in for visits. That’s commonplace for them and the rest of the league. And though Mike Tomlin cautioned not to read much into the visits, his point being there are a variety of reasons why those guys are brought in, the reality is the Steelers’ list has been primarily coming from there. It runs into contrast with Kevin Colbert, who definitely did draft players from that ’30’ list but not at the same frequency. Here are his most recent drafts with relevant data.
2022*
QB Kenny Pickett (local – 1st round)
LB Mark Robinson (7th round)
QB Chris Oladokun (7th round)
2019
WR Diontae Johnson (3rd round)
CB Justin Layne (3rd round)
ILB Ulysees Gilbert III (6th round)
2018
S Marcus Allen (5th round)
2017
RB James Conner (local – 3rd round)
QB Josh Dobbs (5th round)
LB Keion Adams (7th round)
*In 2022, we only knew 13 of a possible 30 names, though there are no indications any of their selections came in for visits. And this doesn’t include 2020 or 2021 where no visits took place due to the pandemic.
Using those four Colbert draft classes, only ten selections, 32.2 percent, were visitors. That’s half the number of Khan’s classes. And only four came in the top three rounds. That’s 12.9 percent of the total 31 selections compared to Khan’s 50 percent, seven of his 14.
Is this a sample size issue? Perhaps. We’re still only two classes into Khan’s drafting tenure. More years, more data, the more confident we can be about his trends and tendencies. But two years in, and there’s one trendline worth watching. Pittsburgh’s pre-draft visitors are the team’s focal point. Though boring and predictable, your 2025 mock draft should primarily consist of that list.
