Khan: We’re gonna keep plugging away
Team GM making moves with signings
ORLANDO, Fla. — Less than a month after saying the Steelers had “full faith” in Kenny Pickett, general manager Omar Khan has made two trades and signed a former Super Bowl winner that has completely gutted the quarterback room and given rise to a new level of optimism.
In addition, he traded top receiver Diontae Johnson, gave the team’s biggest free agent contract ever to inside linebacker Patrick Queen, and signed helmet-busting strong safety DeShon Elliott to pair with Minkah Fitzpatrick.
And he hopes he’s not finished. Other than that, it has been a slow couple weeks for the secondyear general manager.
“If you would have told me a month ago that we’d be sitting here a month later and that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields would be our quarterbacks, I’d say I’d be a little bit surprised,” Khan said Monday during a break in the NFL owners
meetings at the Grande Lakes Orlando Resort.
The Steelers have been the talk of the NFL offseason after signing Wilson in free agency and trading for Fields in the hours after they traded Pickett, their former starter. In addition, Khan secured Queen, a two-pronged move that helps the Steelers and hurts division-rival Baltimore Ravens.
Khan is merely carrying through on a public declaration made by team president Art Rooney II, who said after the season he has grown impatient with not winning a playoff game in seven years — the team’s longest drought since the 1970 merger.
“I’m just trying to do everything I can to help,” Khan said. “I owe it to Steelers Nation to do everything I can to try to get to the Super Bowl. Every decision we make, that we talk about, is based on that.”
But even during these three-day meetings, Khan hasn’t stopped making deals.
The Steelers agreed to sign three more players on Monday, including adding a third quarterback — former Buffalo Bills backup Kyle Allen, who will be with his fifth NFL team after being an undrafted free agent in 2018.
In addition, former Philadelphia Eagles receiver Quez Watkins was brought in to provide more depth to a position that has been thinned by the trade of Johnson.
And veteran defensive tackle Dean Lowry, who played seven of his eight NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers, was also signed for depth purposes.
“We’re gonna keep plugging away,” Khan said.
Watkins is not the type of big-name receiver the Steelers have been seeking to replace Johnson, who was traded to the Carolina Panthers for cornerback Donta Jackson. Nor does it diminish the Steelers’ desire to take a receiver in the early rounds of next month’s NFL draft.
The Steelers were hoping to talk with former Los Angeles Chargers receiver Mike Williams, but he signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the New York Jets two days before he was scheduled to come to Pittsburgh.
“I think we’re always going to add to every room, including that one,” Khan said. “We have some players we feel good about, but — I can’t speak for the coaches — but I think they will do things and adjust things based on who the receivers are at that position. It’s safe to assume we will continue to add to that room.”
But no room has been so drastically remodeled like the quarterback room. The Steelers have to go back to 1957 — when Earl Morrall, Len Dawson and Jack Kemp were brought in to replace Ted Marchibroda and Jack Scarbath — to find the last time they completely overhauled the position.
“Obviously some things transpired,” Khan said. “We feel good where the room is. We feel good about 2024 with the quarterbacks we have. Things changed from when we were Indy [for the combine] to here, some things happened and probably didn’t anticipate the way things would go. But we’re excited about where we are.”