The Pittsburgh Steelers have embraced a new philosophy with a new regime in the front office. General Manager Omar Khan and assistant general manager Andy Weidl have made it their mission to build the most physical football team possible. Games are won and lost in the trenches, so that is where their focus is. They drafted five offensive linemen over the previous two seasons, and each player has started at least one game. Now it's time for them focus on the defensive line and turn that into a frightening unit.
In free agency, the Steelers have repeatedly taken players from two teams that are always in playoff contention; the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens, but Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette warned about using those pipelines nonstop.
"Pilfering key pieces from those teams is something of a double-edged sword," Batko wrote. "If two smart, well-run franchises are opting to not do further business with a player, one could wonder what that means for his future prospects."
The Ravens have been in the upper-tier of teams in the AFC North for a few years now, and the Eagles have made two Super Bowls in three years, including a victory in their latest appearance. Those two teams seem to do something right and the Steelers want to emulate them.
The problem is that trying to farm players from the best of the best usually doesn't work. Khan may be a smart general manager, but he does not have the experience of a man like Howie Roseman, who has managed to build two separate Super Bowl-winning teams within the span of a decade for the Eagles. He knows all kinds of tricks that Khan has yet to learn.
If a team full of great coaches, scouts, and executives thinks a player is not worth keeping around, it may not be in the Steelers' best interest to go for them. Of course, those teams do make mistakes occasionally, and it makes sense for teams to take a player or two from them every now and then. Building a whole team around other teams' rejects may not be the greatest move, however.
Batko listed all of the players that played for either the Eagles or Ravens that also had significant playing time with the Steelers over the previous two years.
"Ex-Eagles who have played meaningful snaps for the Steelers under the watchful eye of Weidl include defensive back Elijah Riley, left guard Isaac Seumalo, interior lineman Nate Herbig, nickelback Chandon Sullivan, outside linebacker Kyron Johnson and punter Cameron Johnston," Batko detailed. "The ex-Ravens include inside linebacker Patrick Queen, safety DeShon Elliott and outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon."
On top of all that, the Steelers signed Darius Slay and Kenneth Gainwell from the Eagles in 2025, both of whom were on the Super Bowl LIX championship team. They also signed Malik Harrison from the Ravens. That's three more players that came from the pipeline that Pittsburgh has desperately tried to build.
Steelers Have One Major Connection To Eagles And Ravens
Weidl has been a major influence on signing former Eagles and Ravens because those are the two teams that he worked for before joining the Steelers, including acting as Roseman's right hand man in Philadelphia. He has seen how those teams thrived first-hand, and now he wants to use that same blueprint to lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl.
Trying to skin other teams alive usually does not work. Numerous teams have tried to replicate the New England Patriots, but to minimal success. The best example was the Tennessee Titans, who had one surprise playoff run and even beat the Patriots in the first round with many of their former players, but they lost in the AFC Championship game that year and have yet to win a postseason game since.
