For the first time in 19 years, Mike Tomlin isn’t the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach. No longer does he have input over how the roster is shaped. Even with a veteran coach like Mike McCarthy brought in, power has shifted from coach to general manager Omar Khan. At least, that’s the way Stephen A. Smith framed it from a Pittsburgh source.
“I had somebody out of Pittsburgh just tell me this morning. They just text me this morning,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take Tuesday morning. “I ain’t saying their name because I don’t have their permission to do so. But they said to me, keep your eyes on Omar Khan. Because they knew I got on him a few weeks ago.
“And they said with Tomlin gone, he now gets to make some decisions. I was under the impression that he was making the decision. They’re like, ‘Nah, now we get to see what he is going to do.'”
Smith is referring to his recent rant critical of Khan’s decision-making and accusing him of not doing his job. Now, Khan appears to be in the driver’s seat.
While Smith’s source isn’t known, making it hard to know its level of credibility, it’s an obvious point to make. Tomlin was tenured and among the NFL’s highest-paid coaches. He had extreme influence over what moves were, and weren’t, made. Though Pittsburgh presents all choices as “Steelers’ decisions,” there’s little doubt Tomlin sat in the driver’s seat. Now, Khan may have taken over the wheel.
Pittsburgh had an active first day of free agency, agreeing to sign CB Jamel Dean, RB Rico Dowdle, and trading for WR Michael Pittman Jr. The Steelers filled key roles of the roster and showed a clear type of player they’re attacking – big and physical veterans. Dean is a press man corner, Pittman a large possession type, and Dowdle a 215-pounder with power.
Khan’s tenure as general manager has produced mixed results. Pittsburgh has invested heavily in the offensive line with moves that have largely paid off. The vision of the roster feels a little clearer. Still, the team has rotated in a string of quarterbacks without a long-term answer and has remained a collection of older veterans unable to get the team over the hump.
Ultimately, Khan hasn’t built a roster able to win a playoff game. The longer that drought continues, the more Khan will wear that fact. If he’s able to change those fortunes and find 2026 postseason success, he’ll be credited as the man who did what Mike Tomlin couldn’t over his final decade with the team.
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