The NFL Draft is a day that college football players achieve their dream of making it to the pros. However, the work truly starts now as they will be playing with the best in the world at what they do. Every year, teams make picks that they hope will improve their team, but sometimes fans don’t like them. This year, the Pittsburgh Steelers were no different.
The Steelers, who desperately need a quarterback, decided to pass on a quarterback and take defensive tackle Derrick Harmon with their No. 21 overall pick. This was a head-scratcher for fans as they passed on both Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart, who were both still available. Despite backlash from the fans, the Steelers’ GM fired back.
Steelers GM Omar Khan Responds to Shedeur Sanders Draft Criticism
Steelers General Manager Omar Khan recently shut down talk about how the Steelers passed on Shedeur Sanders, insisting that they landed their top target of the 2025 NFL Draft class.
“We were on the clock,” Khan tells Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “We got the player that we wanted.”
Khan wasn’t alone in feeling this way as Tomlin backed him up, saying that they were looking at the defensive tackle position with “extreme urgency” this offseason.
“Extreme urgency,” Tomlin said. “To be quite honest with you, there’s no substitute for young talent. You don’t have a chance to fill a quality defense unless you’re stout inside and up front. This is a young guy, man, that has an opportunity to learn from the likes of Cam Heyward and put his hand in that pile and be a significant contributor for us for years to come.”
While the Steelers need a quarterback, they also have other needs they had to address. In the end, Pittsburgh went with the best player available on the board, and they tended to their need for a defensive tackle, and Tomlin truly loves this pick.
“He has Steeler DNA for us,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “It starts inside and upfront, and this is a guy that’s capable of dominating that space versus the run and the pass, and so we’re really excited about having him. We weren’t interested in considering trading away from him and really excited about getting him in here and getting started.”
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This leaves more questions than answers, especially when it comes to the quarterback position. With the Steelers passing on Sanders and Dart, it means that they are gambling all-in on Aaron Rodgers coming to Pittsburgh. While this very well could be the case, only time will tell if they made the right choice.
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