The Pittsburgh Steelers are historically calm, cool, and calculated when it comes to making moves via trade and in free agency. They tend to build through the draft, re-sign their own players when it’s time, and only dabble in the free agent or trade market.
But this offseason, GM Omar Khan broke the mold and made a bunch of un-Steelers-like moves. He traded for wide receiver DK Metcalf, tight end Jonnu Smith, and defensive back Jalen Ramsey. He also made splashes in free agency with quarterback Aaron Rodgers and cornerback Darius Slay.
He also traded away key parts of the roster in wide receiver George Pickens and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Now, with the Steelers in training camp and the season fast approaching, Pittsburgh appears to be in good shape to compete in 2025.
For Khan, who appeared on The Rich Eisen Show Friday afternoon, the offseason moves were just him trying to do his part to help the Steelers win a Super Bowl.
“That’s a good question. I’m just doing my part and trying to do whatever I can to bring a championship to Pittsburgh,” Khan said of the bevy of moves the franchise made, according to audio via SiriusXM. “You know, I think the dynamics of maybe how teams are built is maybe changing a little bit. And we’ve adjusted. But every one of those moves is unique in their own way.
“And we looked at ’em, they made sense, and we’re just trying to win a championship.”
Since taking over as the Steelers’ GM ahead of the 2022 season, Khan has repeatedly stated that he’s going to do everything in his power to help the Steelers win a Super Bowl. In recent years, he’s been relatively aggressive in free agency and trading up and down in the draft.
This offseason was entirely different, though. Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl didn’t nibble around the edges. Instead, they dove right in and made major changes. As Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora so eloquently put it last month, “Omar Khan is wielding a sword, not a scalpel, and he is cutting without mercy.”
Due to that aggression this offseason, the Steelers seem better positioned top to bottom on the roster to really compete, not only in a loaded AFC North, but within the NFL in general. It’s asking a lot for a 41-year-old Rodgers to be the answer at QB, but the pieces around him are strong, and the defense looks fierce.
This is all on paper, though. That’s why they play the games. That could all change once the ball kicks off. But Khan did everything he could within reason this offseason to make the team better and give head coach Mike Tomlin a deep, talented team to work with.
Will the offseason aggression pay off? That remains to be seen. But it’s going to be well worth the watch.
