PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin couldn’t help himself.
Speaking with the media after the 2024 NFL Draft on Saturday, he referred to the past three days as a “good weekend” at least a handful of times. And if you know anything about the Steelers’ head coach over the past 17 years, he’s not exactly into giving himself or his team compliments — especially when it comes to a bunch of college football players who likely think the team’s colors are black and yellow.
If you want another example of how the Steelers felt about their most recent draft, which concluded late Saturday afternoon, general manager Omar Khan — affectionately known as the “Khan Artist” after two years of wheeling and dealing — continuously fielded trade calls in every round … and turned down every single one of them.
No, it was not the 1974 draft, but that is a bar that will never be reached in professional sports again. Still, this class got the Steelers’ front office giddy enough to feel that this group of players could be one of the better ones in team history. If they didn’t feel that way, there’s no way Tomlin would throw out compliments like he did during the post-draft news conference, and surely there would have been a trade that Khan couldn’t say no to.
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“This weekend will be defined over the next four to five years with the quality of players in this collective,” Tomlin said. “But in terms of how we feel today, it’s about preparedness, it’s about options and feeling good about what we did as a process to provide good, clean decision-making.”
Not to sound over the top, but it was a virtuoso performance by the Steelers.
They came in with a plan to upgrade the offensive line and did just that by getting Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier within the first 51 picks, then added tough-guy guard Mason McCormick … but only after picking up receiver Roman Wilson in the third round.
It was the first time in 48 years the Steelers drafted three linemen with their first five picks.
The plan was more than just adding players. It was adding the right players — football-loving, physical players and high-character guys. A couple of years of Antonio Brown, Diontae Johnson and company sure seemed to inpsire some change in the type of player they look for.
Now, the draft is an inexact science, and all of these players the Steelers feel good about now might not work out. Just two years ago, they were thrilled to get Kenny Pickett. Less than two years later, they had no issue trading him for the equivalent of a bag of footballs. They loved Devin Bush, Artie Burns, Senquez Golson, Mike Adams, Kendrick Green and so forth.
You get the point. Things aren’t always as they seem.
But that’s part of this process. All you can do as a front office is have a detailed plan and not deviate from it, and that’s what the Steelers did.
That’s how you have a “good weekend.”
“Just our general level of excitement when we’re on the clock and the options that were available to us and the amount of research and information that we had on those options creates a really good sense of comfort in the process,” Tomlin said. “And so that’s what I mean when I describe a good weekend.”
GM Omar Khan and Coach Tomlin continue to recap the #SteelersDraft: pic.twitter.com/Jg7ohDBNb8
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 27, 2024
It didn’t hurt that everything seemed to break their way.
The No. 1 thing the Steelers wanted was to improve the offensive line, and regardless of what Fautanu and Frazier do, the line is in a better position than it was Thursday afternoon. What has been the weak spot of the team for a couple of years now could have two bookend tackles and a center for the next decade.
It all started with a plan back in February when they hired Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator.
A play caller who loves running the ball, he already had power backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren on the roster. Russell Wilson, whose best play has come in run-heavy offenses with play-action passing, was added next. Now the offensive line, which already had two pretty darn good players in Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels at guard, has Broderick Jones, Fautanu and Frazier.
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When Tomlin throws out praise, especially to rookies, that should perk everybody’s ears up. It wasn’t that much praise, but by Tomlin’s standards, it was effusive. I’ve never seen him gush like that about a draft class.
“We don’t run away from the work, we run through the work,” Tomlin said. “I think it tees us up for a good weekend like we had this weekend.”
The Steelers’ ability to stay patient, let the draft come to them and then get who they wanted isn’t especially common in this league. They didn’t make one trade in three days. Khan has made nine since taking over as general manager 23 months ago.
There were plenty of opportunities, too.
It’s unknown how far the talks went, but reports indicate the Steelers inquired about trading for Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco’s star receivers. Maybe the 49ers wanted too much, or maybe Khan just hung up on them, but it never materialized, just like the dozens of other calls into the 412 area code of the UPMC Rooney Complex.
Teams wanted to move to where the Steelers were, but they held strong.
“When there’s a good player there, it’s hard to trade away from it,” Khan said. “We had the opportunity to trade away to trade back this year, and with where we were, we felt really good about the players we took where we took them.”
“We had some testy moments there leading up to our picks,” Tomlin said. “But that’s a good thing from my perspective. It means that we had guys on our board who we were excited about the potential to take in. And I think in all three of those instances, we were excited.”
The Steelers almost moved up to take Frazier in the second round, after center Jackson Powers-Johnson was taken by the Raiders seven picks before the Steelers were on the clock. They had a big need at center, and Frazier is the kind of tough guy they seek with linemen. But Khan politely declined.
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“We had conversations about moving up, and the phone’s ringing about moving down,” Khan said. “It was every round we were in that we had a pick. We were having conversations about moving out and moving down. It was pretty active. If there’s ever an opportunity to improve the team, we’re going to look at it, and if it makes sense, we’re going to go after it.”
Now, he is still the Khan Artist, and there are still needs at slot corner and receiver, so his trading cap hasn’t been put away for the year quite yet. The Steelers have to feel good about Roman Wilson and George Pickens but after that, there’s nothing that you would want to brag about.
But that time will come. This is more about a second solid draft class for Khan and company, which has to put them in the conversation for a division title at this point.
Yes, it is all speculation at this point, and we all know that. But I dare you to find a Steelers draft (other than 1974) where you could come out feeling you might have potential five starters with the first five picks, including three who could start in Week 1 this year. I am sure you could, but it won’t be easy.
Perhaps he was just caught up in the moment, but I still can’t get over Tomlin’s giddiness … in public, with everyone watching and taking notes. If he didn’t feel that way, he wouldn’t have said what he said, which should put even the most skeptical fans at ease.
(Photo of Troy Fautanu, left, and Art Rooney II: Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
