The Steelers 2025 off season will soon end as the team converges at St. Vincents for training camp.
- My, what a long strange trip it’s been.
Yes, the trip has been strange enough at times that the conventional wisdom heading into Latrobe is “These are not your father’s Pittsburgh Steelers” or “The Steelers Way as we know it is over.”
- But should we accept the conventional wisdom at face value?
To be sure, there has been no shortage of personnel turnover since the Ravens ridiculed the Steelers in the playoffs. That’s certain.
But strip away the hyperbole and the social media-induced hype and you’ll see much of change we’ve seen is firmly grounded in franchise precedent.
The Steelers Brain Trust @ St. Vincents. Photo Credit:Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports, via Yahoo! Sports
Stripping Down the D.K. Metcalf Trade
Strip the Situation to the Studs – Pittsburgh invests a premium pick in a skill player. He plays well. He makes an expensive veteran expendable. Alas, he has issues. So the Steelers send a 2nd round to the NFC and bring in a pedigreed player while shipping the former premium pick out.
Sounds familiar, right?
Good. Because it should. Except we’re not talking about how D.K. Metcalf and George Pickens came and went to Pittsburgh, but about the Bam Morris to Jerome Bettis switch out in the spring of 1996.
Jerome Bettis hurdles guard Alan Faneca evading Dewayne Robertson in the Steelers 2004 AFC Divisional playoff win. Photo Credit: Matt Freed, Post-Gazette
Yes, there are differences. Morris had legal problems; Pickens has maturity issues. The Steelers cut Morris. They traded George Pickens. They also didn’t fork over a ton of money to Bettis until after the 1996 season, whereas they handed Metcalf a check as he walked through the door.
Fair enough. But the template Omar Khan followed looks a lot like the one Tom Donahoe left behind.
Distilling the “Sleep Walking Through the 2025 Draft” Ditty
Distilling this Ditty Down to Its Core Details – Despite a desperate need at quarterback, Pittsburgh passed on multiple signal callers, waiting until day three to address the position, and opting instead to double-dip on defensive line.
OK. The heckles from the peanut gallery condemning the Steelers blueprint for their 2025 Draft class have largely come from the national media. But it serves to debunk the myth that this off-season was somehow “unSteelers-like.”
In January the Baltimore Ravens knee-capped a once-proud defense with 299 yards on the ground.
And Omar Khan responded in his third draft just as Kevin Colbert did in his second draft after the 2000 Steelers had similarly been embarrassed on Sunday Night Football by Fred Taylor: By beefing the defensive line.
Colbert passed on Drew Brees and drafted Casey Hampton (and Kendrell Bell) instead. Khan took Derrick Harmon.
Yes, a long-term solution at quarterback remains a glaring need for the Steelers. But in refusing to reach, Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan stuck with franchise precedent.
After passing on Dan Marino in 1983, the Steelers really didn’t have a shot at another franchise quarterback until Brees in 2001* But more importantly, they always resisted the urge to reach for one (see the non-draft of Chad Pennington in 2000.)
*Unless you count passing on Steve Young in the 1985 Supplemental Draft or maybe Brett Favre in the 1991 Draft.)
Oh, And About the Steelers Quarterback Situation…
Breaking the Story Down to Its Bare Bones: The Steelers had a young signal caller who was reaching unrestricted free agency for the first time. They wanted him back. They made him an offer. The New York Jets offered more. The Steelers declined to begin a bidding war. Instead, they opted to go with a quarterback room that consisted of a veteran journeyman, a 6th round pick and a Wild Card nearing one of the endpoints of his career timeline.
That about describes what happened, doesn’t it?
Yes it does. It is exactly how the Steelers quarterback situation unfolded in 1996 after Super Bowl XXX. They made Neil O’Donnell an offer. The Jets offered him more. The Steelers let him walk and instead turned to Mike Tomczak, Jim Miller (a 6th round pick) and Kordell Stewart.
- Of course the analogy’s imperfect.
Tomzack, Miller and Stewart were part of the 1995 Steelers. Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Aaron Rodgers were not Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024. While the Tomzack-Rudolph comparison holds water pretty well, Miller had 2 years and appearances in 3 NFL games, whereas Howard’s a rookie.
- But the Kordell-Rodgers parallel holds up better than you think.
Kordell knew how to make headlines. So does Rodgers. Kordell had just played his first year. Rodgers has basically said this is his last. Kordell was a wild card that could go either way for the Steelers in 1996, just as Rodgers is now.
“Oh, but none of the QBs in 1996 caused the angst that Rodgers caused,” the chorus protests!
Angst for who?
Did Pittsburgh panic when Justin Fields priority boarded for New York? Did start a bidding war? Did they throw a contract at Russell Wilson after he visited the Browns and the Giants? Did they sacrifice future drafts to get Jaxson Dart? Did they reach for Shedeur Sanders?
No, they didn’t.
The Steelers had a plan at quarterback. And when that plan didn’t unfold as expected, they remained patient, refused to panic and, arguably, got the best quarterback available this off-season. And they’ll pay him 21.8 million less than the Browns are paying Deshaun Watson this year.
Its almost hard not to picture Mike Tomlin laughing to himself as he watched the social media outbursts that erupted as each day pass without Aaron Rodgers signing.
Putting the Steelers 2025 Off Season in Perspective
The Steelers 2025 off-season certainly had its share of surprises. And it is certain that neither Omar Khan nor anyone else on the South Side had a WWTDD? (as in What Would Tom Donahoe Do?) moment this spring.
But if you look at the principles that guided the Steelers braintrust through it all, you’ll see that they’re the same ones that the franchise has followed since Dan Rooney assumed control in the mid-60s: Try to field the best team possible for the coming season without sacrificing their ability to compete in future seasons.
- Now, will their strategy succeed?
Its almost time to hit the blocking sleds and St. Vincents and start finding out!
