Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers made a slew of moves this offseason, bringing in the likes of Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith. The Steelers historically build though the draft, but general manager Omar Khan knew drastic changes had to be made after the team got embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card game last January.
The Steelers have also not won a playoff game since 2016, which is the longest drought for the franchise since pre-1972.
“I think going into the offseason we reflected on how things ended last year and that wasn’t good enough,” Omar Khan said on The Pat McAfee Show from St. Vincent College on Wednesday. “They were all case by case (situations). We just gotta be better and the way last year ended left a bad taste in our mouths. And that’s unacceptable.”
The Steelers traded for Metcalf, Ramsey and Smith, but they did not take away from the team’s overall draft capital. The Steelers are expected to go all-in for a quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Khan traded the team’s 2025 second-round pick for Metcalf, but traded down in the fifth round to recoup a pick, added a 2026 third-rounder for George Pickens, and navigated the free agent market in such a way that the team will almost certainly get four compensatory picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
When they traded for Ramsey and Jonnu Smith, they sent Minkah Fitzpatrick the other way instead of adding draft capital to the trade.
“We’re staring at probably 10 to 12 picks next year,” Khan said last week. “And we really weren’t willing to stray away from or give up too many of those picks with some of the stuff that we’ve done.”
"I think going into the offseason we know that some things had to be different..
We just gotta be better and the way the season ended was unacceptable" ~ Omar Khan #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/HR4Jddleel
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 30, 2025
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin even admitted that it’s new territory for the club with the amount of roster turnover.
Steelers All-Pro defensive tackle Cam Heyward channeled Lee Flowers and said he doesn’t want the Steelers to be paper champions.
“We’re not trying to be paper champs, we’re trying to be champs,” Heyward said at the Steelers first day of training camp at St. Vincent College. “You don’t win the Super Bowl now, but you learn how to be a better team and you learn how to be better situationally.”
Time will tell if Khan’s plan for 2025 pans out, but so far the new additions have had a profound impact on the team.
Alan Saunders and Brendan Howe provided reporting from St. Vincent College.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers GM Omar Khan Explains Aggressive Offseason: ‘Some Things Had to Be Different’
