Just a few short months after he made the pointed comments following the loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card round that the Pittsburgh Steelers have “had enough of this” regarding going one-and-done in the playoffs, team president and owner Art Rooney II got the response he wanted.
In the blink of an eye, GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl reshaped the Steelers’ roster, turning things over in a hurry in an effort to get rid of some potential issues in the locker room while also upgrading the roster from a talent standpoint.
Now, with a month until the start of the 2024 season, Rooney is feeling good about where his team is.
Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio’s “Movin’ The Chains with hosts Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller, Rooney said that the Steelers couldn’t afford to stand still in such a tough division as the AFC North. He is pleased with the aggressiveness that Khan and Co. showed in the offseason, wheeling and dealing in an effort to put a winner together.
“Well, it’s certainly been a busy offseason, and we’re in a tough division and we can’t afford to stand still,” Rooney said, according to audio via SiriusXM. “It’s the toughest division in football if you ask me. And we want to compete. You just heard T.J. [Watt] talking about how important it is to him to win a playoff game and of course move on from there. And we have some guys that have been around a long time that they feel like it’s time, too.
“So some great, great leadership from those guys. And of course a lot of new faces.”
A lot of new faces is right. The Steelers really did a number on the roster from the end of last season to the start of training camp. Heck, Khan and Weidl have even tinkered in training camp, re-signing veteran OLB Markus Golden earlier in the week to shore up depth on the edge.
In the tough AFC North, the Steelers can’t afford to be complacent. Even making the playoffs last season wasn’t good enough as three of the four teams in the division made the playoffs, and all four teams had winning records.
It will be even more difficult this season with the Bengals getting QB Joe Burrow back and the Ravens adding RB Derrick Henry.
So, the Steelers were aggressive in the offseason. While Khan has stated he doesn’t like to label himself aggressive, Rooney did that for him Friday on SiriusXM.
“Well, I think that’s a good word. Omar is aggressive. He’s not gonna stand still,” Rooney said, according to SiriusXM. “And he’s been with us for a long time, too. He’s hungry. He’s as hungry as the rest of us. And so, when he got this job, he was determined to start making a difference.
“And I like what we’ve done so far, and we’ll see. We’ll see what the results are.”
There is a lot to like about what the Steelers did this offseason. Entering the offseason with a bunch of holes to fill and positions to figure out, Khan and Weidl appear to have done that.
Now, it’s about seeing how the team performs on the field. Khan and Weidl gave head coach Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff a very solid team, at least on paper. It’ll be interesting to see how the aggressive offseason plays out on the field in 2024 and beyond.
