That could allow the team to move around in this year’s draft or make a big move in 2026’s draft.
“I think you guys got to know me over the last couple years, I think all options are on the table, staying put, moving out, moving back,” Khan said. “I’m open to anything if it makes sense for us.”
That has been one of the benefits of some of the turnover the team has had at the quarterback position.
Though both Wilson and Fields left in free agency, the Steelers knew when they acquired both that there was the potential to reap the benefits of the compensatory formula for those players.
“We kind of understood where our contracts were with our free agents,” Khan said. “The possibility does exist, a good possibility does exist, for us to acquire comp picks, and so that’s always been a part of the process this year. The fact that we’ve had the opportunity to acquire picks, I don’t know exactly how it was going to shake out yet, but that’s obviously been taken into consideration.”
• The Green Bay Packers have proposed making the aiding of a quarterback, or any runner, in short-yardage situations, known as the “Tush Push,” illegal as one of the handful of rules changes that will be voted on by ownership here this week.
Tomlin said Monday he’s not necessarily in favor of doing away with the play, but understands why some might be in that corner based on player safety.
For example, the league has made efforts to improve player safety on field goals and PATs by making it illegal for one player to aid another to vault over the line of scrimmage.
“The first time I saw it, I couldn’t believe that it was legal because it was illegal on the field goal,” Tomlin said. “That being said, you hate to be against it, because when people are innovative, you want to respect that. And so there’s certainly been some teams that have been more innovative than the rest of us in that regard, and you hate to penalize them for it.
But again, we got into the discussion on the field goal block because of player safety, and so that still remains to be a component of the discussion.”
Tomlin noted that while there are thousands of other plays in the game from which to draw safety data, there have only been around 170 instances of the “Tush Push” being utilized.
As such, it makes the overall safety of the play difficult to judge.
“My real perspective is the player safety component. There’s been discussions about the player safety component,” Tomlin said. “It’s why we took it off the field goal in terms of the field goal units. And so I think that’s where the discussion will be (Monday). I’m really excited about the discussion. I’m open minded. I’m anxious to see what everyone has to say, but the larger part of the discussion for us is around player safety.”
