The Pittsburgh Steelers were usually one of the quietest teams during the offseason. They didn’t often sign big-name free agents, and they very rarely traded players. Well, that was the old Steel City regime. The shrewd and deliberate Kevin Colbert has been replaced by the Khan Artist, Omar Khan, as Pittsburgh’s GM over the last few years. And they’ve become arguably the busiest offseason team in the NFL.
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They had a long and publicized courtship of Aaron Rodgers that at least resulted in the signing of the aging four-time MVP. They also signed aging All-Pro CB Darius Slay. Khan made a blockbuster trade in sending their All-Pro safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick, to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for All-Pro CB Jalen Ramsey and TE Jonnu Smith. They also traded a second-round pick for D.K. Metcalf and acquired a third-rounder for George Pickens.
Like we said, Khan’s been a busy boy. And the one thing all those moves had in common was bringing in a big-name veteran who wants to win now. Most are not considering the Steelers a Super Bowl contender this year. Nonetheless, it’s clear that’s what their aspirations are for 2025. And the local media, including WPIAL’s Karlo Zovko, is on the bandwagon.
“Whether people want to believe it or not, the Steelers right now, are in a Super Bowl window. If you have Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay. You have that defense, you are now in your Super Bowl window. So you better maximize it, however you can. ‘Oh they let Justin Fields, they let Russell Wilson walk!’ Yeah, they upgraded the position! They got Aaron Rodgers!”
Zovko also absolved Rodgers of any blame for not signing until voluntary OTAs were over, which is fair enough. He is 41 years old and apparently just got married, so intensive offseason training wasn’t really on the menu either way. Given his experience and the Steelers’ reliance on veteran pieces, they could not afford to roll the dice on an unproven entity, which is why the Rodgers signing was so important for Mike Tomlin.
“If you’re in your window. And, like it or not, that’s a 2-3 year window. And guess what, that AFC, you’ve got Josh Allen, you’ve got Lamar Jackson, you’ve got Patty Mahomes, Joe Burrow. It’s loaded. You better zig when everybody else zags. … When people wanna tank, losers tank. I can’t believe the tank talk in the City of Pittsburgh. This is the City of Champions!”
Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz, on whose podcast Zovko was doing a guest appearance, couldn’t believe that there had been tank talk. But it is true that this was the common thread in the Steel City before Rodgers signed.
And like Zovko said, tanking for a first-round QB is still just a 50-50 proposition, if that. Might as well go for one last ride with the new over-the-hill gang and see what they can muster up.
