Steelers waive the white flag on the 2023 season at the trade deadline

The front office stood pat at the NFL trade deadline

So, what does all of what we just discussed have to do with the trade deadline that just came and went? I would argue it has everything to do with it. The fact that Mike Tomlin stated during his weekly press conference that the Steelers were open for business gave me at least some hope that something would transpire.

In my forty-five-plus years of watching Steelers football and football in general, I can tell you that we are not a good team right now. The fact that we did absolutely zero to improve the team is incredibly frustrating. To be fair, I am sure we tried to swing a trade for someone or perhaps multiple someones and the asking price was probably more than what we were willing to part with.

On the flip side, you have to ask yourself this: If a team wanted a second-round pick for a quality player, for example, what would we have done with that second pick anyway? Yes, trading away a high-round pick is not our modus operandi, but we once traded a first-round pick for Minkah Fitzpatrick. I would say that trade has worked out pretty well.

The year we traded for Fitzpatrick we finished with eight wins and eight losses. As of right now, we would be lucky and I mean lucky to see eight wins with this team, which would mean that we will see the first losing season in the Tomlin era.

Omar Khan has to explain to the fanbase what the rationale was behind standing pat at the trade deadline. As I said, I think we may have 'kicked the tires' on a player or multiple players, but 'kicking the tires' and buying the car are two different things.

If you look at some of the trades that were made, I would argue that we missed out on an opportunity to improve this team. I don't think trading a third-round pick for a cornerback is giving up too much. I don't think trading a player, a fifth and a sixth is giving up too much. Yes, I realize there are salary cap implications involved in making a trade, but isn't that Khan's forte?

The bottom line for me is that we did nothing to improve a team that is treading water right now. It seems like we just waived the white flag and this is both disappointing and frustrating, to say the least.