{"id":35620,"date":"2025-05-09T05:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T05:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/35620\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T05:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T05:42:10","slug":"kozora-making-sense-of-the-steelers-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/35620\/","title":{"rendered":"Kozora: Making Sense Of The Steelers’ Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Tomlin says to have a plan but be light on your feet. It\u2019s clear the Pittsburgh Steelers have ushered in a new era, one that features sweeping change when the feeling is warranted. No longer is it a franchise making incisions around the margins, tweaks that are barely noticeable. The team has an axe, and its roster is a tree that must be cut down for something new to bloom.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the vision? It\u2019s a Pittsburgh team perennially focused on winning now, attempting to maximize an aging defense and fill in Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt\u2019s empty playoff resumes. That\u2019s why the Steelers have put up with waiting for Aaron Rodgers, right?<\/p>\n

Trading George Pickens makes it harder to understand. Talent-wise, the Steelers are further away from their goal. It\u2019s a fair critique of the trade, especially occurring post-draft.<\/p>\n

Since Omar Khan and Andy Weidl took over as head and assistant general manager, while still knowing Mike Tomlin\u2019s influence is powerful (if anything, it\u2019s grown), it seems that Pittsburgh\u2019s plan is this:<\/p>\n

1. Spend 2023-2025 draft capital on building up trenches
2. Aggressively draft a first-round QB in 2026, using stockpiled capital to move up if needed
3. Develop talent acquired in steps 1 and 2
4. Use available cap space thanks to rookie contract to fill in rest of roster with free agents
5. Bank on strength in trenches and quarterback as foundation to make Steelers Super Bowl competitive again<\/p>\n

In Khan\u2019s first three drafts, it\u2019s been trench warfare.<\/a> Pittsburgh has had six selections in the top two rounds. Five of those have been dedicated to the lines. Broderick Jones, Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier offensively. Keeanu Benton and Derrick Harmon defensively. It\u2019s an Eagles-like approach no doubt influenced by Weidl\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

Attacking quarterback next year is plain to see. The group of prospects will hopefully be stronger than what 2025 offered where Pittsburgh understandably and smartly avoided an early move, getting good value with Will Howard instead. Time will tell the viability of the Steelers\u2019 landing a top passer, but they\u2019ll certainly try.<\/p>\n

Drafting is one thing. Developing is another. Pittsburgh\u2019s track record is mixed. Broderick Jones is slipping toward bust territory and entering a crucial third season. Keeanu Benton has played much better but didn\u2019t take the expected sophomore leap. Zach Frazier looks like a stud while Troy Fautanu\u2019s rookie year became a wash.<\/a> And we\u2019ll get our first look at Harmon this weekend during rookie minicamp.<\/p>\n

Kenny Pickett was a miss but it\u2019s hard to blame development for that. The evaluation was just poor. And even if a lack of development is to blame (Pittsburgh did little to help, I\u2019ll say that much) many of the pieces that existed then don\u2019t anymore. New general manager, new offensive coordinator, new quarterbacks coach.<\/p>\n

The focus of 2025 must be getting this line to develop into a top-10 unit. If not, the Steelers will be staring at 2026 with needs at quarterback, receiver, offensive line and a handful of defensive spots.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s plan isn\u2019t unique. Fundamentals aren\u2019t supposed to be and most teams want to build around the trenches and quarterback. But the Steelers struggled working toward that goal in Kevin Colbert\u2019s later years, leaving the roster feeling hollow when Khan and Weidl took over. Having a plan and executing it are two starkly different things, but if you want an idea of where the Steelers want to go, this is the path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Tomlin says to have a plan but be light on your feet. It\u2019s clear the Pittsburgh Steelers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4033,7,6,1256,520,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-35620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-andy-weidl","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-omar-khan","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114476282581894795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}