Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan has received a lot of praise for his 2024 NFL Draft haul, but assistant general manager Andy Weidl certainly deserves a lot of credit, as well. His fingerprints are all over the Steelers’ heavy investment in bolstering the offensive line.
The Khan and Weidl regime have made one thing clear in Pittsburgh; they want to build up the trenches and dominate up front. Three of Pittsburgh’s first five picks in the draft were offensive lineman — offensive tackle Troy Fautanu in the first, center Zach Frazier in the second and guard Mason McCormick in the fourth.
Weidl brought this philosophy over from Philadelphia, as the Eagles always put an emphasis on the O-line and D-line, dating back to Andy Reid.
Ex-NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker and former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay praised Weidl for his impact on the Steelers’ draft.
“Absolutely LOVE the Steelers draft so far. Andy Weidl knows what a football player looks like,” Tucker wrote in response to the Steelers’ first four picks on X.
McShay followed up by saying, “Second that motion!! Andy is one of the best evaluators in the business and deserves more recognition.”
The Steelers now have locked down three of their five offensive line slots for the foreseeable future, plus a blocking tight end. They have two running backs under team control through 2025. The Steelers are going to be able to run the ball.
“When you want to play a certain brand of football — a Steelers brand of football — it certainly helps to have the right guys,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said after securing Frazier in the second round on Friday.
The Steelers made a bunch of not-very-Steelers like moves this offseason, but one thing that remains an organization touchstone is the singular focus on a plan. It looks like the Steelers have everything lined up and everyone pulling in the same direction to get this one a lot closer to success than the last one.
It’s quite clear that Weidl is trying to make the Steelers a carbon copy of the Eagles in regards to the heavy focus on the trenches.
Weidl was named to a list of hot names to watch as future NFL GMs by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated in January.
“He’s ranked higher in the past, but he’s always been a really solid evaluator, and his pedigree is pristine—having gone from Baltimore to Philadelphia to Pittsburgh over a career that’s spanned more than two decades (and resulted in rings with the Ravens and Eagles),” Breer wrote. “The Steelers were impressed enough, when interviewing him in 2022 for the GM job, to pair him with Omar Khan. And with Khan’s expertise being primarily on cap/operations side, Weidl’s the leader of the team’s well-respected scouting department.”
Weidl was hired as the Steelers assistant general manager just after Khan was hired as general manager, in the middle of the 2022 offseason. As a duo, they just went through their first full offseason process together, and they’re only getting better.
Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Pittsburgh for this story.
