Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

New report proves that Steelers GM Omar Khan may be no more than a figurehead for the real shot-caller in Pittsburgh

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Rob Gregson | Last updated Feb 3, 2025 4:42 PM ET

In the NFL, there is usually a clear pecking order when it comes to a franchise.

If a team doesn't have a president, then it's typically Owner, GM, and HC and in that order.

But in Pittsburgh, that hasn't seemed like the case for some time and recent comments and reports only add to it...

Mike Tomlin holds the real power in Pittsburgh

"Mike Tomlin's biggest problem and the organization's biggest problem is that for a guy who wants his brand to be, 'We don't seek comfort. I don't seek comfort', he is too comfortable, said ESPN's Brooke Pryor on the Shek Show with Dave Dameshek The Steelers are too comfortable." Pryor said. "They're too comfortable in doing things the way they've always been done and giving the same message every year...

"...It's being comfortable in, 'We've had all this success. And it's worked before, so it's gonna work again.' But the 'before' is getting farther and farther away." Pryor said. "No one is really challenging him or has the ability to challenge him. So he just keeps becoming more and more insulated."

The truth is, Mike Tomlin might as well be the HC and GM in Pittsburgh. Does Omar Khan help in terms of scouting, financials, and player acquisition? Of course.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers)

But if Mike Tomlin wants a player in the draft, he will draft him. If he wants to sign a player in free agency, he will sign him. Additions and subtractions on his coahcinbg staff...up to him. And don't take my word for it just listen to the people that know him best...

“I know Omar Khan is the general manager,” Big Ben said on his podcast Footbahlin. “Mike Tomlin makes decisions... Mike Tomlin has decisions and makes most of the decisions in Pittsburgh. He can say he doesn’t and this, that, and the other - we all know that he’s got a lot of pull. He’s been here for 18 years. You wouldn’t be here that long if you didn’t have pull and say.”

And maybe that;'s not a surprise for Steelers fans, but we have seen this song and dance with the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick by the end of his tenure, though he was nearly 20 years older than Tomlin currently is.

We'll see if he can fend off that same kind of demise.