The Steelers are heading into their third draft class with HC Mike Tomlin and GM Omar Khan. Khan served in a different capacity previously, with Kevin Colbert serving as general manager. Since Khan took over the job, the Steelers have retained every draft pick they have made, which they had never done previously, although there are some injury caveats involved.
Many will want to attribute that difference to Khan; however, Gerry Dulac believes Mike Tomlin “has more say” in the Steelers now than he did when he was working with the much more experienced Colbert. Colbert was with the Steelers in a GM-equivalent job long before they hired Tomlin. While Khan was also in the organization, he dealt more with contracts than scouting reports.
“I think Mike Tomlin has more say than he did before with Kevin Colbert, but only because Omar Khan is still relatively new in his role”, Dulac wrote in his latest chat session while discussing the Steelers’ power dynamics behind the scenes. He is far from the first person to suggest that Tomlin has sweeping authority over personnel, either.
Dulac added that Tomlin’s predecessor, Bill Cowher, had the same relationship with Colbert, but Cowher, of course, never worked with Khan in a general managerial role. Colbert served as the top front office executive for more than two decades.
Since the Steelers promoted Omar Khan to general manager, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have emphasized the trenches. They have used four draft picks in the first and second rounds on offensive and defensive linemen. Although they traded this year’s second-round pick for WR DK Metcalf, most expect them to draft a defensive lineman in the first round.
During free agency, the Steelers failed to secure a starting defensive lineman, barring Daniel Ekuale on a cheap deal. They released Larry Ogunjobi, putting their chips in the draft basket. The expectation is they will bring in first-round-graded linemen for pre-draft visits this week and next.
Tomlin is always a lightning rod, both for good and bad. He attracts a great deal of attention, whether it’s positive or negative. He prefers to attract the attention and deflect it off others with whom he works. That includes Omar Khan, unless it’s amplifying an endearing nickname like the Khan Artist. That is not to say that he wishes to hog the glory, but he doesn’t want others to have to deal with distractions.
We don’t, of course, have to accept Dulac’s premise that Mike Tomin has more say with Omar Khan as general manager, though it would seem likely to be true. For one thing, Tomlin would have been intimately involved in the hiring of Khan to his current role and likes to be involved. Would he hire somebody to whom he would have to cede power? While they did add an assistant general manager position by bringing in Andy Weidl, I think that’s more about Khan. Khan didn’t come into the role with an extensive scouting background, so Weidl’s role was to help bridge that gap. There are more voices, but Tomlin’s is presumably louder than ever.
