Steelers GM Omar Khan leaves imprint on roster with another aggressive offseason

It’s been 26 months since Omar Khan took over as head of football operations for the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Andy Weidl brought on as his top lieutenant.

Would you believe that among the 91 players who will report to Saint Vincent College for the start of training camp this week, there are only 12 remaining who appeared in a game for the team before the May 2022 announcement of Khan and Weidl as the team’s new general manager and assistant general manager?

Over his two full offseasons in charge, Khan has turned over more than a dozen starting spots. Heck, the Steelers are on their fourth starting quarterback alone since Kevin Colbert retired after the 2022 draft. Even discounting for moves forced via injury, they’ve had five players atop the depth chart at outside cornerback.

Part of it is just the reality of the NFL and the regular churn of personnel. But make no mistake, while Year 1 might still have been “Kevin Colbert’s roster” in 2022, and Year 2 was still heavily influenced by the longtime former general manager’s fingerprints, the continued sea wave of roster turnover makes 2024 a team that truly can be credited to the vision of Khan and Weidl.

“I’m trying to do everything I can to help. I owe it to Steeler Nation to do everything I can to try to get to the Super Bowl,” Khan said over the offseason while denying he seeks to be intentionally aggressive in pursuing player acquisitions. “And every decision that we make and that we talk about, every move that we make and talk about is based on that. Sometimes we make moves, we make decisions. Sometimes we don’t, but it’s always with the intent of doing what we can to get to the second week in February.”

It’s been 14 years since the Steelers played in February (as in, the Super Bowl) and eight seasons since they won a playoff game. President Art Rooney II himself lamented that during his annual meeting with the media in January, pressing a sense of urgency.

Coming off a 10-win season — a number of victories the franchise has surpassed only once since 2017 — the Steelers under Khan retained a nature of aggressiveness in attempting to improve. Whereas during Khan’s first full offseason in charge last year the Steelers went out and found new starters at slot receiver, left guard, outside cornerback, slot cornerback, strong safety and both inside linebacker spots, this offseason there was even more turnover among the starting positions.

The Steelers already flipped the aforementioned WR3 and the three veteran starting defensive backs it signed last offseason, and they were forced to seek another alternative at inside linebacker (because of Cole Holcomb’s serious injury).

New starters were acquired at each position, respectively, in Van Jefferson, Donte Jackson, DeShon Elliott, Cameron Sutton and, most notably, Patrick Queen.

Since last season ended under the snow of Orchard Park, N.Y., in a playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Steelers have swapped out starters at all of the above positions as well as center and, of course, quarterback.

“We’re looking to add players at every position, to be honest with you,” coach Mike Tomlin said earlier in the offseason. “We’re trying to be the very best team that we can be. And so, we’re going to utilize all the avenues to do that.”

For the second consecutive year, only 38 of the 90-man roster (91 this season because of international player Julius Welschof) reporting to Unity Township on Wednesday will have done so the year prior.

The annual churn of rookies via the draft (and those undrafted) is part of that, obviously. But the Steelers also made more than a few moves over the offseason that raised the eyebrows of longtime fans more accustomed to a conservative, stay-the-course modus operandi the Steelers had long been associated with.

Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson was signed. A trade was made for another 2023 starting quarterback, Justin Fields. Starting receiver Diontae Johnson was swapped for Jackson. Queen was signed for a contract with a total value ($41 million) that is higher than the Steelers have ever given to an external unrestricted free agent.

“I don’t know that it’s a specific sea of change,” Tomlin said, like Khan similarly downplaying assertions about the new, aggressive Steelers. “I just think that each offseason, man, we’re trying to do what we can to put the very best group out there and you know, probably going to be more active in some offseasons than others, but I don’t know that two makes a pattern.”