Latest Steelers rumor proves Omar Khan was way over his head at the trade deadline

It finally happened — the Pittsburgh Steelers added a wide receiver before the NFL Trade Deadline on Tuesday. And to be sure, it was somewhat expected as general manager Omar Khan ultimately netted Arthur Smith's offense Mike Williams in a swap with the New York Jets. That was a long-rumored target for the Steelers as the trade market took shape, so that's not much of a surprise.

Having said that, the Steelers general manager doesn't deserve many flowers based on the buzz around the trade, not to mention the return.

For starters, the Steelers gave up a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Jets in exchange for Williams. You know, the exact same compensation that the Kansas City Chiefs sent to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for DeAndre Hopkins, a player with a substantially higher ceiling than Williams. Given that Pittsburgh's desire to add a receiver was a poorly-held secret, Khan had no leverage in negotiations and clearly paid the price there.

He also may have paid the price in not getting the best option for the Steelers to upgrade the wide receiver room.

Omar Khan was out of his depth shopping for Steelers WR at trade deadline

According to ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler, the Steelers were also interested in New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton. However, the way that Fowler's reporting after the Williams trade sounds, it appears that New York was either asking for too much in return or didn't want to part with Slayton, who might've been the preference over Williams for Pittsburgh.

So if we're keeping score at home, Khan's trade deadline featured him showing his hand as early as the preseason with the pursuit of Brandon Aiyuk, coming up empty on the biggest targets that were available, paying a big-ticket price for a small-ticket receiver in Williams, but only after not being able to get the guy that the Steelers may have actually wanted in Slayton.

Not ideal!

Khan, on the whole, has been proven right in many of his decisions. While it was easy to poke fun at him for moving off Kenny Pickett and then acquiring Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, that quarterback shuffling has certainly worked out at the midway point of the season. And that's just a sampling of many moves that have gone Pittsburgh's way.

At the same time, we can look at this trade deadline in a vacuum and certainly agree that how Khan handled the situation was less than ideal. Hindsight being 20-20, showing the need at receiver so blatantly and yet not being aggressive enough before Tuesday ultimately put the Steelers in a bad position. Only time will tell, though, if Pittsburgh reaps the benefits of the Williams trade or if the poor process from the front office yields equally poor results on the field.