Paul Zeise: If this were 2020, the Steelers would be Super Bowl favorites

Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jul 25, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — Omar Khan insists the Steelers are not putting all their eggs in this season’s basket and their goal is always to try to win a Super Bowl.

I get all that and I understand they have loaded up on draft picks for the next two years, but a quick glance at their roster would suggest this team, at least as currently constituted, is probably one and done.

There are just too many 30-somethings and virtual 30-somethings (and at least one notable 40-something) on the roster who will be relied on to man key positions for it to be any other way. The Steelers have a roster that looks good on paper — well, if this were four or five years ago.

Now, Khan & Co. have to hope all of these veterans they have acquired all — or at least mostly — find some sort of fountain of youth and fight off Father Time. They also all have to stay healthy throughout the entire long season.

The Steelers are trying to win this year because beyond this year is uncertainty, especially at the quarterback position, which seems to be a recent theme with this team. Rodgers has already said this is probably his last season, and that means the Steelers will be in the market for another quarterback in the offseason.

And while there is this weird assumption the Steelers will be able to just draft a franchise quarterback in the first round, it isn’t that simple. Maybe they are able to use their extra picks to move up to the top of the draft and maybe they will be able to go get one of the best quarterbacks available, but it isn’t a given.

Cam Heyward is another player whose years appear numbered. Maybe the Steelers squeeze another two seasons out of him (this one and next), but would anyone be surprised if he hangs it up after this season? And even though he is a 30-something, he is not easily replaced. The Steelers don’t exactly have a wealth of depth behind him, so if he retires, it would leave a gaping hole.

Jalen Ramsey at one point was one of the best corners — if not the best corner — in the game. He is 30, though, and this is his 10th season in the NFL and he hasn’t been an All-Pro since 2021. Ramsey may not be at the absolute end of his career, but he is clearly getting there quickly. He may have another year or two, but he certainly isn’t able to play at the level he used to and he is another one whom I could easily see retiring at the end of the year.

Darius Slay Jr. has hinted this could be his final year. Robert Woods, who was brought in for this season, is 33 years old. Cordarrelle Patterson is 34, and even a guy like Miles Killebrew is 32. T.J. Watt is only 30, but he is in Year 9, and given his style of play and the number of violent collisions he is involved in every game, there is no guarantee he is going to continue to put up the kinds of numbers he has.

It doesn’t all add up to a team that is overrated or a team that can’t win, but it does add up to a team that probably has one season to get it right. Khan said the Steelers are playing for beyond this year, but he has to know this team has a lot of eggs in the 2025 basket.

I think with all of the picks the Steelers have compiled and some of the younger players they already have on the roster, this is probably one last-ditch effort to make a run at a Super Bowl with a team that is held together with duct tape. If it doesn’t work, I think next season could be the first time the Steelers essentially enter into some sort of rebuild mode.

It won’t be a full rebuild, but it will have to be a season in which they can’t just try to piece together a bunch of veterans on their last legs in order to try to get to the playoffs. The Steelers will need a new quarterback next season and probably have to replace four or five of the players they brought in this offseason, not to mention potentially Heyward and maybe even one or two others who have been on the roster.

And that doesn’t even bring the Mike Tomlin discussion into the picture, but believe me — if this doesn’t work this year, that will absolutely become something Khan needs to talk about. In fact, I will predict this — if the Steelers fail to win a playoff game again this season, it will be Tomlin’s last season as the coach. He won’t be fired, per se, but he will be moved out via the always vague “mutual parting of ways.”

That is why I think Khan is smart enough to know this roster is built to go all in to try to win this year. If it doesn’t, then there will be some big changes to the coaching staff and the roster for next year and beyond.

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