It was clear to just about everyone by the end of last season that the Pittsburgh Steelers simply did not have enough weapons in the passing game. Sure, a quarterback room of Justin Fields and Russell Wilson didn't help matters, but George Pickens was the only wideout who even managed to clear 600 yards — that's simply not good enough, especially not in 2025.
How did the team respond to arguably its biggest need? By ... more or less standing pat. The addition of DK Metcalf promised to create one of the league's most dangerous vertical duos, but Pickens' departure a few weeks later just put Pittsburgh back at square one, with one mercurial star surrounded by nothing but inexperienced and unproven options.
But if GM Omar Khan is concerned on the eve of the regular season, he's not letting on. Quite the opposite: In spite of all available evidence, Khan can't stop raving about his team's receiver group.
"I feel really good about that receiver room," Khan told 102.5 WDVE on Tuesday. "In my opening press conference I got a bunch of questions comparing it to last year. And to me, it's not even close. I mean, you guys saw some of it this past weekend ... Calvin [Austin]'s banged up a little bit, but we'll get him back. But Roman Wilson and Brandon Johnson, you saw the emergence of young guys like Ke'Shawn [Williams] and obviously we added DK [Metcalf]."
Of course, no one expects a general manager to trash his team publicly, especially not at this point in the year. But this feels like more much more than lip service; it seems like Khan actually believes the nonsense he's selling, and that should be a cause for major concern among Steelers fans.
Steelers WR room isn't good enough, no matter what Omar Khan says
Khan can insist that last year's group isn't even close to what the team has in 2025, but it sure looks pretty familiar to us. Metcalf will slot right into the Pickens role as a dangerous deep threat on the outside who faces questions both about his demeanor and the limits of his route tree. And beyond that, well, it's a whole lot of the same. We know what Austin is at this point in his career; he's a fine speedster, but much more a tertiary piece than someone who can soak up a big target share. Maybe Wilson will hit the ground running, but he's a slot-only receiver who missed his entire rookie season due to injury.
And those are the most proven options behind Metcalf, with guys like Johnson and Williams looking to carve out roles in the NFL as unheralded prospects. There's simply no way that an honest accounting of the talent here puts it in even the top half of the league. If you want to argue that Metcalf is a bit more reliable than Pickens, and that the addition of a healthy Wilson will help, that's fine — but that isn't nearly enough positive change to get the Steelers where they want to go with Aaron Rodgers at the helm.
Maybe Khan is just trying to put lipstick on a pig. But there are still options out there that could help, most notably someone like Amari Cooper. Khan doesn't have to settle for this group if he doesn't want to, which makes his conspicuous confidence all the more curious. There's a chance that he knows something no one else does; more likely, though, the Steelers are in for more of the same offensively.