Despite trading a top player, the Steelers are still aiming for a Super Bowl in 2024, GM Omar Khan insists. Without WR George Pickens, their offense just lost a lot of firepower, and they gained nothing from it to aid this year’s roster. But he pushed back on any perceptions that the move signals an acknowledgement of a lost season.
“We’re chasing a championship, and every decision we make is based on trying to win a championship”, the GM told reporters yesterday, via the Steelers’ website, in a press conference that is very rare for him at this time of the year.
“Not only in the future, but this year. I mean, we’re focused on trying to win a championship this year. I know there’s a lot of questions about different things, but there’s a lot of time between now and the start of the season. But rest assured, we’re trying to win a championship this year”.
The Steelers are looking for their first postseason win since 2016, let alone a championship. While they remain tied for the most Super Bowls in NFL history, their current trophies are gaining tarnish. Since the Steelers’ 2008 Super Bowl, they have returned to the championship game once, in 2010. They also reached the conference finals in 2016, but haven’t even come close since then.
When they didn’t make a move during the draft, most assumed that the Steelers resolved to keep George Pickens for this season. They would have paired him with DK Metcalf, giving Pittsburgh arguably a top wide receiver duo. Add to that QB Aaron Rodgers, and you never know what might happen.
The Steelers bypassed that opportunity in favor of a 2026 third-round pick and a swap of a 2027 sixth-round pick for a fifth. That was enough value, they felt, to move one of their best players, troublemaking as he could be.
Seemingly like Antonio Brown, Diontae Johnson, and Chase Claypool before him, Pickens caused the Steelers more headaches behind the scenes than we even knew in public. And in the case of Pickens, we saw plenty of headaches ourselves. Yet behind closed doors, he showed up late and drew numerous fines for violating team policies.
The elephant in the room was his contract status and the seemingly obvious reality that Pickens and the Steelers would not sign an extension. Nor was he likely to re-sign with the team after this season, so getting value now struck them as preferable.
It’s worth noting that Omar Khan emphasized that “there’s a lot of time between now and the start of the season”. Here, he is suggesting that there is still plenty the Steelers can do to improve their team after the trade. Adding another veteran receiver would hardly be surprising, but they won’t easily find someone to match George Pickens’ talents.
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