Kevin Colbert made history as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first general manager. For years, Colbert helped keep the Steelers competitive, adding quality players to their roster. After the 2022 draft, he retired, with Omar Khan taking over the role. Unfortunately, the Steelers have suffered less success in Khan’s short tenure as general manager. Much of that is due to their inability to find a difference maker at quarterback. Analyst Gregg Rosenthal thinks Khan would be one of the best general managers in the league if not for that flaw.
“The quarterback position obviously is a huge negative, and so he pays for that,” Rosenthal said Monday on his podcast, NFL Daily. “If it wasn’t for the quarterback, if he had traded for Geno Smith a couple of years ago or something. If they had fixed the quarterback position to an above-average level a couple of years ago, he’d probably be in my top 10, but that’s a pretty big knock on the team.”
Finding Pittsburgh’s next franchise quarterback after Ben Roethlisberger has been near the top of Khan’s to-do list recently. However, when he initially took over as general manager, it was less of an issue. In Colbert’s final draft, the Steelers spent their first-round pick on Kenny Pickett. That took them out of the quarterback market for Khan’s first few years with the team.
While Pickett showed some promise during his rookie year, he flamed out in his second year with the Steelers. Therefore, Khan traded Pickett last offseason. However, that didn’t come until after the Steelers signed Russell Wilson.
Signing Wilson seemed to signal that the Steelers didn’t plan to target a quarterback high in the 2024 draft. They looked intent on doing their best to compete for a championship. While that’s admirable, it likely held the team back. It’s put them in purgatory at the quarterback position.
Khan has done a good job taking over for Colbert. In the Steelers’ few drafts under him, they’ve added quality contributors like Keeanu Benton, Joey Porter Jr., Nick Herbig and Zach Frazier. He’s also had some decent pickups in free agency, like DeShon Elliott.
However, the Steelers’ shortcomings under center add some red to his ledger. It’s the most important position in the NFL. It’s not often that teams without franchise quarterbacks actually contend for a Super Bowl. Under Khan, the Steelers have mostly tried to put a Band-Aid on the position. Not all of it is his fault, but he deserves some of the blame.
Now, that doesn’t mean Khan should be fired or put on the hot seat. He’s set the Steelers up to try to find a franchise quarterback in next year’s draft. Khan seems to have a plan to fix Pittsburgh’s quarterback problem. However, if they continue to have offseasons like this one where they look directionless at quarterback, then maybe Khan will deserve more criticism.
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