The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won the Super Bowl in 15 years and head coach Mike Tomlin is starting to feel the pressure. That’s why, in his second full year in charge as general manager after replacing Kevin Colbert, Omar Khan has to make big decisions especially around Kenny Pickett.
In 2023, the Steelers reached the playoffs with a 10-7 record, but, many problems at the quarterback position were crucial to derail their hopes. Pickett’s numbers were average and couldn’t finish the season due to an ankle injury. Then, Mitch Trubisky was a failure as the backup.
Tomlin gave the starting job to Mason Rudolph and he became one of the biggest stories in the NFL thanks to a three-game winning streak to clinch a berth in the playoffs. However, after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, they cannot find their franchise quarterback.
Pittsburgh’s front office guaranteed they will bring competition for Pickett and, as a consequence, during the last few weeks many names have been linked to the Steelers such as Justin Fields, Russell Wilson or Ryan Tannehill.
Omar Khan believes in Kenny Pickett
Even with all rumors surrounding a possible trade with the Chicago Bears to acquire Justin Fields, Omar Khan sounded completely convinced that Kenny Pickett is the future of the franchise during a press conference at the NFL Combine.
“I have full faith in Kenny. He’s shown us some good things and obviously there were some issues with the offense. We have some work to do. Competition makes us all better and that’s regardless of position. I think that’s just in life regardless of what you do.”
Furthermore, in a key factor, Khan pointed out that the new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, is also on board with Pickett heading into the 2024 season.
“I’m excited about the impact that Arthur Smith’s going to have on him. Arthur’s very optimistic about Kenny and they communicated. Like I said, we will have some strong competition there and we’ll see where it goes. Feel really good about him.”
Steelers send a big warning to Kenny Pickett
Despite this optimistic scenario surrounding Kenny Pickett, Omar Khan did not rule out the possibility of a trade if a great opportunity arises to sign a name like Justin Fields.
“We’ll look at every option. Right now, we have one guy under contract, that’s Kenny Pickett. I feel really good about Kenny, but he knows, and we all know there’s going to be competition in the room. I’m not going to go into details about the conversations that we’ve had, but I can tell you that I have an obligation to look at every avenue that’s out there to try to make us a better football team.”