Omar Khan has been a breath of fresh air since taking over as the Pittsburgh Steelers general manager a few seasons ago. Kevin Colbert, while vital to building the earlier Super Bowl team, had grown stale as a front office member.
His ways were archaic, yet he refused to change his process. It has since cost the team dearly.
While Khan deserves a lot of praise, he is also deserving of some criticism right now. Specifically, his free agency strategy last year has officially fallen flat.
Asante Samuel Jr. is just further proof of that.
While I think the signing of Samuel Jr. was a smart move, it is also telling that Pittsburgh's strategy this offseason to fix the secondary was flawed. In short, the moves that were made haven’t panned out, and the team is still scrambling to fix this group.
Omar Khan failed the Pittsburgh Steelers with his offseason additions
Now, not every move has been bad. D.K. Metcalf has been a great addition to the offense, while Kenneth Gainwell has been a fun piece on offense. Aaron Rodgers is a fine value as a starting quarterback; however, I still think the signing wasn’t great.
Beyond that, his moves have been questionable. Malik Harrison has been mostly a depth player with a role on run downs. He hasn’t been offensive, but his play certainly hasn’t been great.
The real issue boils down to the secondary. Darius Slay, Brandin Echols, and Juan Thornhill were all signed to provide a veteran presence in this room. Jalen Ramsey, meanwhile, was traded for as the cherry on top.
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This unit has been average at best, and most weeks it feels like a liability.
Echols has been ok, but he was torched in the slot against the Chargers. He feels like a better outside piece. Ramsey has been good, but his move to safety felt like a necessity, and one has to wonder if you can justify his salary at that position.
Thornhill and Slay are different stories.
The Steelers brought in Thornhill with the intention of him serving as the third safety. That was elevated to starter after Minkah Fitzpatrick was dealt to bring in Ramsey. His play was never good on the field, and he was eventually benched as a starter in favor of Kyle Duggar and lost backup snaps to equally unimpressive options in Chuck Clark and Jabrill Peppers.
Now, he finds himself a free agent after being cut in favor of undrafted rookie free agent Sebastian Castro.
Slay, you could argue, has been worse. While his play has been better, he has a far larger salary. He looks like a declining player, and adding in his constant injuries during games and this signing looks like a bust.
Samuel is further proof of this. Slay isn’t expected to be out long-term, if at all, and yet the team added the top free agent cornerback to improve their depth. It feels like Samuel is likely to eat into Slay’s playing time sooner rather than later.
Both he and Thornhill felt like they were signed because they were cut in the offseason. As such, they didn’t count towards the comp pick formula. While I am all for playing this game to get more picks, it can’t come at the cost of talent on your roster.
Khan has done a great job of bettering the Steelers. However, his choices in free agency last year, and specifically in the secondary, are aging like milk. Hopefully, he can learn from his mistakes next offseason.