Steelers GM Omar Khan sees 'good players' available to fill thin center position

INDIANAPOLIS — If the 2024 NFL season started today, Nate Herbig would be the starting center for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Given that Herbig has taken just 47 career snaps at the position and none since 2021, he is the replacement for recently released two-year starter Mason Cole on paper only.

General manager Omar Khan said Thursday at the NFL Combine that the Steelers will be looking to add centers in the upcoming months.

“Position flexibility always has been important to me,” Khan said. “We have guys who are center capable, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to look at free agency, the trade market and the draft process. There are good players in every one of those areas.”

Guard James Daniels, who played 508 snaps at center in 2019, his second NFL season, is not an option.

“He’s had some position flexibility, but James had a good season at guard, and we were really encouraged by that,” Khan said. “We think he got better every week.”

Khan was less certain about the position Broderick Jones will play in his second NFL season. The team’s first-round pick and left tackle from Georgia, Jones made 10 of his 11 starts as a rookie at right tackle in place of a benched Chuks Okorafor.

“He proved that he could play right tackle, but he was drafted to be a left tackle and eventually he will be a left tackle,” Khan said. “When that is, time will tell.”

Other items addressed by Khan during his interview with reporters at the combine:

• On the release of Mitch Trubisky, Okorafor, Mason Cole and Pressley Harvin: “Once we made a decision they weren’t going to be part of the 2024 plan — those guys are all great guys — we felt like the right thing to do was give them a chance to catch on earlier with a team.”

The Steelers could save $10 million by releasing wide receiver Allen Robinson. Khan said the Steelers are still evaluating their roster as free agency approaches.

• New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and his vision for running back Najee Harris will “play into the decision-making process” on whether the Steelers exercise Harris’ fifth-year option. That decision doesn’t have to be made until May 2.

“We think very highly of Najee,” Khan said.

• Khan didn’t have a medical update on defensive captain Cameron Heyward, who underwent a surgery after the Super Bowl concluded and he won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. Khan expects to have Heyward, who has a $22 million cap hit, on the roster in 2024.

The Steelers plan to be cautious with Heyward, who missed six games this past season with a groin injury.

“The reality is he’s going to be 35, so we have to be careful with how we manage his reps,” he said. “We’re going to be smart about it. … He doesn’t need to learn the defense.”

• On expectations after the Steelers returned to the playoffs only to lose their fifth consecutive postseason game. “I sat and watched the Super Bowl at home like everybody else,” he said. “I watched Kansas City win the Super Bowl. That is not where we want to be. We have to be better. Everyone has to be better, myself included. The goal is for someone to be watching us in the Super Bowl.”