Omar Khan said in late March that he doesn't consider himself as an aggressive general manager. Given his seemingly aggressive approach in the 2023 draft and the last two free agency periods, one might find that difficult to believe.
Khan was telling the truth one month ago. If this 2024 NFL Draft for the Steelers did anything, it showed Khan and his staff are believers in patience.
"You have no choice but to be patient on draft weekend, but it all comes down to what players are there when you're picking and you try to make the right decisions, whether to move up, move down, or take a pick," Khan said in a joint press conference Saturday with Mike Tomlin after the Steelers made their final selection Saturday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
"As I've said before, for me, I know we made some moves last year, but when there's a good player there, it's hard to trade away from and we had the opportunity to trade away, to trade back this year, and with where we were, we just felt really good about the players we took and where we took them."
The draft fell into the Steelers' lap by all of their accounts, starting with Washington tackle Troy Fautanu with the 20th overall selection Thursday evening. They prioritized tackle throughout this offseason's pre-draft process and landed one that likely wasn't expected to be available there in the first place.
Then came another player at a position of extreme need in West Virginia center Zach Frazier, who was a high priority on their board. The Steelers gave a hard look at Oregon's Jackson Powers-Johnson throughout their process, but Frazier ended up being their preference with the 51st overall pick in the second round on Friday, seven selections after the Raiders took Powers-Johnson.
Without having to dive into South Dakota State guard Mason McCormick just yet, it's clear the Steelers went into this draft with a plan to address the trenches. They ultimately did so on the offensive side with three of their first five picks. Still, with this plan firmly in place, they did not have to maneuver to get the players they wanted.
"It was a strong offensive line group," Khan said. "We've talked plenty of times about how we feel about the importance of the offensive line, and we got through Day 1. Obviously Andy (Weidl) used to play the position and has a lot of knowledge, not only about that position but all the positions, and it just kind of worked that way for us. Even in the fourth round when we had a chance to get Mason McCormick, he's a guy that we had rated really high up there and we had a couple players at the position who are in the last year of their contracts and felt it was important to address it if he was there, and we did."
When Khan mentions "a couple of players" who are in the last year of their contracts, he is referring to James Daniels and Dan Moore Jr., who are set to become unrestricted free agents in 2025. Having McCormick on their board was to fulfill a long-term plan, and their box was checked in the fourth round Saturday.
Though the Steelers did not trade up or down for any reason, Khan said they maintained an active approach on the phones just in case. When the moments approached the Steelers' picks, they hung up.
Their plan worked out.
"Needless to say we're really excited about having them," Tomlin said. "As Omar mentioned, we had some testy moments there leading up to our picks but that's a good thing from my perspective. It means we had guys on our board that we're excited about the potential of taking, and I think in all three of those instances (regarding offensive linemen) we were really excited."
The board fell to them on Day 2 besides Frazier. Tomlin was glued to Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson from the moment he saw Wilson suit up for practice at the Senior Bowl. Tomlin followed through with multiple meetings and brought the cavalry with him to watch Wilson at Michigan's pro day. The wide receiver was always on the Steelers' radar in the second and third rounds.
"I'm just trying to get familiar down there with everyone at the Senior Bowl," Tomlin said. "It is a great atmosphere for getting to know the guys, for getting up close with them, to watching them compete, to maybe giving them some instruction and seeing how they take instruction and apply it to play. He's one of those instances. He and I had an opportunity to spend some time together. I think we interviewed him a couple times in Mobile. We had an opportunity to get some intimate moments in practice sessions on the field, challenging him to compete against some people. It's just a get-to-know, an opportunity for me to get to know him, an opportunity for him to get to know me. But again, that's what I'm talking about when I talk about our process. We don't run away from the work, we run to the work, and I think it tees us up for a good weekend like we had this weekend."
Wilson was the third receiver taken in the third round behind Western Kentucky's Malachi Corley (Jets) and Alabama's Jermaine Burton (Bengals). The Steelers never flinched on a potential trade in order to guarantee Wilson became theirs, and the patience paid off.
The board fell their way again when N.C. State linebacker Payton Wilson dropped into their lap at the end of the third round. The reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year, among other prestigious accolades, slipped because of concerns with a lengthy injury history and a missing ACL. Despite being ultra-productive, having outstanding tape to back it up and, most important, two years of a clean bill of health, he was the sixth linebacker selected.
But, he was the one the Steelers wanted.
"I think you could characterize it as surprised," Tomlin said. "He is an award-winning linebacker, Butkus Award winner. Had an opportunity to get really familiar with him down in Mobile, as well. But the linebackers themselves weren't coming off the board at that juncture, so sometimes they'd make runs on positions at different times, and there hadn't been a lot of linebackers to that point."
The Steelers were patient. Then they pounced.
Day 3 can be a wild-card day. The 2023 draft brought outside linebacker Nick Herbig into the fold in the fourth round, and he became an impact role player immediately for the Steelers. McCormick likely won't see the field right away as a starting guard, but he is a nice, versatile piece to have along the interior line along with Nate Herbig. The Steelers did not pick in the fifth or seventh rounds and did not tempt to trade into them, and they ended up with Iowa defensive lineman Logan Lee and Texas cornerback Ryan Watts as depth options for their respective rooms in the sixth round.
The Steelers are still, arguably, in need of another wide receiver and another cornerback. The Steelers restructured Alex Highsmith's contract Wednesday to reportedly convert most of his $10.733 million salary into a signing bonus. That frees up an additional $7.2 million in cap space to give the Steelers more than $18 million available to spend, according to OverTheCap.com.
That move helps the Steelers with the post-draft wave of free agency beginning sooner rather than later. For now, they feel satisfied with their plan and execution of it during this draft weekend.
"Just our general level of excitement when we're on the clock and the options that were available to us and the amount of research and information that we had on those options creates a really good sense of comfort in the process," Tomlin said. "That's what I mean when I describe a good weekend. Obviously, this weekend will be defined over the next four to five years with the quality of play of this collective. But in terms of how we feel today, it's about preparedness. It's about options and feeling good about what we did through the process to provide good clean decision-making."
