Rinse, the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking for wide receiver help, and repeat. Anyone with a finger on the pulse of the NFL and the ongoings throughout the league knows that general manager Omar Khan has been desperately looking to upgrade the pass-catching group since last offseason. Once again this offseason, however, that pursuit is expected to stay on course.
Naturally, that comes with its own challenges this offseason. While there should be no shortage of potential options via trade with the likes of Cooper Kupp and Deebo Samuel, among others, potentially on the move, but you also can't forget guys like Tee Higgins, Stefon Diggs and Amari Cooper in the free agency pool. All this is to say, Khan and the Steelers have options — but those options come while Pittsburgh also works to make a decision at quarterback and the futures of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields alike.
That, however, does not mean that's all the Steelers are missing in order for this team to achieve its ultimate goal of contending for a Super Bowl. There are other holes to plug throughout the roster, perhaps most notably at cornerback. Pittsburgh, with Donte Jackson's pending free agency, needs an answer to shore up the secondary.
Unfortunately, the early messaging doesn't suggest that Khan is seeing the whole picture when it comes to this roster.
Steelers can't get tunnel vision with pursuit of wide receiver upgrade
In his weekly chat for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steelers insider Gerry Dulac was asked about which position group Khan and the front office would prioritize in free agency among receiver, cornerback and defensive line. Dulac replied plainly, "WR tops", meaning that the pursuit of a pass-catcher is, as it seems, the unquestioned priority.
That in itself isn't all that troubling. Receiver should be among the team's top pursuits this offseason given that it's largely been George Pickens, warts and all, and then question marks of unproven efficacy around him in that position group. At the same time, however, that strategy also runs a big risk of putting Pittsburgh in a tough position to fill out the rest of the roster.
The Steelers, as a playoff team, are picking 21st overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. In a class that has been billed as having good starters and depth but perhaps not game-changing talent, picking outside the Top 20 holds inherent risk. Furthermore, it also makes it, at least on the surface, less likely to find quality starter-level talent later in the draft.
However, with the need at quarterback and this reported wide receiver pursuit, it feels as if Khan, as he's done before, could get a bit of tunnel vision and ultimately leave the Steelers with other glaring holes. There are only but so many ways to adequately build a contender, even with the cornerstones Pittsburgh has, and they frankly seem in danger of running out of those ways to do everything they need to.
Maybe Khan has a master plan at hand that will quell any of these concerns. Unfortunately, given how middling things have been at times in recent years, it's hard to have faith in that. It's much easier to feel the concern creep in more heavily with the mistakes that could be shaping up to be made this offseason by the Steelers front office.