On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers arrived at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, for the Steelers' 2025 training camp. While the fan attention gathered around star players on their arrival, Omar Khan quietly addressed the media before the first training camp practice on Thursday.
Khan expressed that the Steelers are not working on any in-house extensions, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. When asked if the front office is looking to acquire any outside talent, Khan's answer was straight to the point.
"I feel good about our team," Khan said.
This isn't the answer Steelers fans were hoping to hear. On paper, it appears that Pittsburgh's front office still has work to do in several key areas, but it appears they feel they've done enough at this juncture. The Steelers could use some added wide receiver competition, offensive tackle depth, and another interior defender.
However, the biggest need for an upgrade is staring them in the face.
The Pittsburgh Steelers need to add safety help early in training camp
Minkah Fitzpatrick wasn't the same player the past two years that he was early in his Steelers career, but after trading the veteran safety to the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh is left with a glaring hole at the position. DeShon Elliott was inked to a contract extension during the 2025 offseason, but his expected counterpart in the backend of the defense is Juan Thornhill.
And quite frankly, that's simply not good enough.
Thornhill was a former second-round pick of the Chiefs who had a few quality seasons in Kansas City. Unfortunately, his most recent two-year sample with the Cleveland Browns is film that he would love to forget. Despite starting 22 games over the past two seasons for Cleveland, Thornhill has zero interceptions during that span.
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What's more concerning is that he allowed more touchdowns (6) than passes defended since 2023 (4). Last year, this equated to a despicable 141.7 passer rating allowed to opposing quarterbacks.
The Steelers simply can't rely on the soon-to-be 30-year-old veteran to fill this role, and Omar Khan needs to make one more roster move—this time to land a starting-caliber safety to pair with Elliott in the secondary.
With so much riding on this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers can't entrust Thornhill to be the last line of defense at free safety. Fans can get behind most of the moves Khan made this offseason, but it's time to make one as Steelers training camp begins.