Omar Khan Defends Steelers WR Depth after George Pickens Trade
Steelers general manager Omar Khan believes Pittsburgh still has enough depth at wide receiver after trading George Pickens.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers seem to have put themselves in a very similar position to that of a year ago at wide receiver after trading George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. General manager Omar Khan disagrees with that sentiment, though.
“We wouldn’t have done this if we didn’t feel good about the receiver situation, about our depth here,” Khan said. “I know people make comparison to last year, but it’s not even close to being the same.”
The Steelers spent a months-long pursuit of 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk last offseason before he ultimately signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension with San Francisco. That left them with Pickens and not much after him.
However, after acquiring wide receiver DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks and then moving on from Pickens, it’s difficult to argue Pittsburgh isn’t in the same spot.
Khan tried his best to do so on Friday.
“We made the investment in DK,” Khan continued. “We’ve had another year with some of the young guys, gotten to know them, watch them develop. We added Robert Woods. Roman’s [Wilson] healthy, seeing him the last couple of weeks out here and how he’s doing. We saw how he was progressing at the end of last year. Obviously, he didn’t have a chance to get on the field, but there was some excitement there. We have a good group.”
Woods and Wilson could turn out to be viable options for the Steelers, but it’s certainly a big risk to take. Woods’ best football is behind him at 33 and Wilson is a major question mark having never made it onto the field last year.
There are still some intriguing options left on the open market that Pittsburgh could add. Acquiring someone via a trade is a possibility as well.
Khan didn’t shut down either option, despite expressing a ton of confidence in the Steelers current group.
“If there’s an opportunity to add a playmaker on offense, regardless if it’s a receiver, we’ll look into it,” he said. “If it makes sense, it makes sense.”