The Pittsburgh Steelers brand used to carry lofty expectations. For years, the organization was viewed as the gold standard for how to build and sustain a contender, but a lengthy stretch without a playoff win and a dramatic shift in roster construction diminished that reputation in the eyes of some around the league.

“Their front office is — what it used to be for a long time — is not viewed that way anymore,” former NFL scout John Middlekauff said on The Colin Cowherd Podcast.

Their track record bought them the benefit of the doubt with most moves, because things always seemed to work out for the Steelers. Now, they’ve had six starting quarterbacks in the last five seasons and haven’t moved even one inch closer to their goal of another deep playoff run.

“Omar Khan was in the building for a long time. I think if you’re a real go-getter, I think you leave the building and so I don’t look at the Steelers’ front office as elite,” Cowherd said. “I think they played it safe with Mike McCarthy as a hire, who I don’t think is a disaster, but it’s a safe play.”

The growing perception around the league is that Pittsburgh has become too focused on avoiding failure rather than taking the necessary risks to truly contend again. Cowherd thinks that mindset is exactly what’s keeping the franchise stuck as a good, but never great team.

Ironically, the issue started long before Omar Khan was making the decisions in Pittsburgh. Kevin Colbert’s track record bought him a lot of grace, but the end of his tenure was abysmal. The 2022 class is extinct in Pittsburgh, 2021 is down to just Pat Freiermuth, and 2020 to Alex Highsmith. Add in Mason Rudolph, T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward, and those are the only Colbert picks left on the roster.

Cowherd and Middlekauff’s perception of Khan has more to do with the Colbert’s failures than his own. But it takes time to dig out of that kind of hole, especially in the absence of a long-term quarterback to build around.

Of Khan’s 31 draft picks since taking over as GM, just two of those players are off the current 90-man offseason roster. And four of them are due for big-money extensions from his inaugural 2023 class. If anything, Cowherd is overestimating Pittsburgh’s previous reputation and underestimating the current regime.

Mike McCarthy may seem like a continuance of a bad philosophy, but he represents a pretty large change in Pittsburgh. They are committing to a future with a better offense after years of subpar play, and that starts with identifying the next long-term quarterback. Will Howard and Drew Allar represent two decent prospects to develop in the background.

Cowherd says “something is missing” with Allar and doesn’t understand the early pick. Pittsburgh agrees that something is missing, they just think McCarthy is the right person to fix it.

The Steelers may no longer get the benefit of the doubt they once did, but Khan’s front office is slowly digging itself out of a hole that was many years in the making.