A lot of people are angry at the Pittsburgh Steelers right now and directing their ire at head coach Mike Tomlin. He’s caught a ton of heat from analysts and former players alike as his team has now lost five of seven games. But one person FOX Sports’ Jason McIntyre doesn’t believe is getting enough criticism is Omar Khan.
“This roster is not great. Tomlin ain’t the GM,” McIntyre said Thursday on FS1’s The Herd. “They tried to draft a quarterback, Kenny Pickett. That was a flop. So then they went for Aaron Rodgers. Disaster. All this is on Tomlin? What about the GM? Is the GM catching no heat for trading [George] Pickens?”
First and foremost, McIntyre incorrectly attributes the Kenny Pickett selection to Khan. Pickett was drafted by Kevin Colbert in April 2022, and Khan became the GM in May of that year.
It’s fair to assign some blame to Khan, but the two examples McIntyre brings up certainly do involve Tomlin in the decision making. The choice to wait for and subsequently sign Aaron Rodgers this offseason was reportedly Tomlin’s idea. Thus, as Rodgers plays closer and closer to the level of a 42-year old as the year goes on, that decision does reflect on Tomlin.
Even trading George Pickens was a move that involved Tomlin. Back in May, Mark Kaboly reported that Tomlin was actually the driving factor in the decision to trade the young receiver. Tomlin went out of his way plenty of times to defend Pickens through criticism he received while in Pittsburgh. At the time, it seemed like a reasonable move. Although it doesn’t look great in retrospect with how well Pickens has played, and how poorly the Steelers’ own receiving corps look.
None of that absolves Omar Khan of any blame, though. McIntyre is right that this roster just isn’t that talented. Tomlin’s fingerprints are all over this team, but Khan is obviously in those decisions as well. And together, the pair has built a team that can’t move the ball downfield or stop anything on a consistent basis defensively.
That said, it’s not really fair to put all the blame on Khan here. Tomlin has always had power when it comes to these moves. Tomlin wanted a secondary with Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Joey Porter Jr. at cornerback, and it didn’t pan out. He wanted Aaron Rodgers, who had a great start to the season but has quickly fallen back to earth. There’s even an argument that Khan should have more say in those decisions moving forward. He hasn’t been perfect, but Khan isn’t the main reason for the Steelers’ issues.
