The Steelers acquired wide receiver DK Metcalf via a trade with the Seattle Seahawks in March and also signed veteran wide receiver Robert Woods last week. The team returns Calvin Austin III, Roman Wilson and Scotty Miller, among others, at the wide receiver position.
“We wouldn’t have done this if we didn’t feel good about the receiver situation, about our depth here,” Khan said. “You know, I know people make a comparison about last year. It’s not even close to being the same.
“Obviously we’ve made an investment with DK. We’ve had another year with some of the young guys and gotten to know them, watch them develop. We added Robert Woods. Roman’s healthy. I’ve seen him the last couple weeks out here and how he’s doing, and we saw how he was progressing at the end of last year. Obviously he didn’t get the chance to get on the field, but there was some excitement there. But we have a good group.”
That doesn’t mean that Khan won’t still look to add to the position.
“If there’s an opportunity to add a playmaker and offense, regardless of whether it’s a receiver or whatever it is, we’re gonna look into it. And if it makes sense, it makes sense. But there’s always good players available.”
As for the timing of the move – two weeks after the NFL Draft was completed – Khan said that was simply the way things worked out.
The Steelers weren’t actively shopping Pickens prior to or during the draft, though some teams did call.
“The trade that was interesting to us was not there on draft weekend,” Khan said. “You know, teams called and a lot of times, you just talk in hypotheticals, and people say, ‘Hey, would you do X, Y or Z?’ And most of the time the answer is no.”
In this case, the answer became yes.