Omar Khan addressed the media about the George Pickens trade this afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Here's the full transcript from his session:

Khan: “The trade sort of happened quickly. We had some people inquire during the draft, nothing that really made sense. Cowboys reached out, I don’t really remember what day it was, but earlier this week and they proposed something for us to think about. We had conversations internally and also had some conversations with George’s agent, Dave, who I have a good relationship with, and we discussed where things have been with George, where they are and where things could go with George. This trade made sense for everyone.”

Question: “Did he want to to be traded?” 

Khan: “He never asked. I was never told that he wanted to leave.” 

Question: “You guys have been pretty supportive of him throughout his three years here, how did you get to the point where him going somewhere else turned out to be the best course of action?” 

Khan: “We just kind of talked about it. Lots of serious conversations, honest conversations. We felt that a fresh start for both sides was the right thing.” 

Question: “Were those conversations about a potential extension, were you negotiating with him for an extension?” 

Khan: “We don’t talk about negotiations, we just felt like it was time for a fresh start.” 

Question: “Is it obvious to say that draft picks are harder to come by, more valuable before the draft than after?” 

Khan: “That’s a good question, and for me, those draft picks are valuable no matter what. I think when you’re on the day of the draft or you’re going through the draft, every one of those picks feels like they’re the greatest pick, you don’t want to get rid of them and they’re valuable, but they’re all important.” 

Question: “Do you view it as a disappointment that it didn’t work out, or do you just move on and say, ‘We got that third-round pick and just move on,’ how does the organization feel?”

Khan: “I wouldn’t use the word disappointment. We had three years with George and we had some exciting times, but it was just time for a fresh start for both sides. It was the right thing.” 

Question: “How does this impact the team this year and how do you feel about the depth at receive?” 

Khan: “We wouldn’t have done this if we didn’t feel good about the receiver situation and about our depth here. I know people make comparisons from last year, it’s not even close to being the same.” 

Question: “What’s the difference?” 

Khan: “Obviously, we made the investment with DK (Metcalf) and we’ve had another year with some of the young guys, gotten to know them and watch them develop. We added Robert Woods, Roman (Wilson) is healthy, I’ve seen him the last couple of weeks out here and how he’s doing. We saw how he was progressing at the end of last year, obviously he didn’t get the chance to get on the field, but there was some excitement there. We have a good group. There are some guys that are back and we’ve seen their growth and having another year under our belt with them, we feel good about it.” 

Question: “Do you see that as a hole that’s more easily accessible for a veteran in free agency as opposed to where you were a year ago?”

Khan: “If there is an opportunity to add a playmaker on offense, regardless of whether it’s a receiver or whatever, we’re going to look into it. If it makes sense, it makes sense. There’s always good players available. There’s good players out there and if we wanted to add good people, we could, but we feel comfortable with it.” 

Question: “In regard to acquiring draft capital for next year, was that an objective you’ve aggressively been trying to do?” 

Khan: “This year we were in a position where it was important for us to acknowledge the fact that we could be in a position to acquire comp picks next year. You guys saw how we did things in the offseason, that was obviously something that was in the back of our minds when we made decisions. We’ll see how it all shakes out during the next phase of this and how much these guys play to determine where those comp picks end up, but that’s something we were obviously cognizant of.” 

Question: “You didn’t make the trade on draft weekend because of that?” 

Khan: “A trade that was interesting to us was not there draft weekend. Teams called, and a lot of times we just talk in hypotheticals and people say, ‘Hey, would you do X, Y or Z,’ and most of the time, the answer is no. There was nothing there that was worth discussing.” 

Question: “At the owner’s meeting and maybe elsewhere, you guys sounded pretty excited about DK and George and the schematic challenges it could present to defenses, what changed between now and Wednesday?” 

Khan: “I guess we had a team that called and gave us something worth thinking about. We had the conversations and, like I said, we talked about where we’ve been, where we are and where we could be. It just made sense that the fresh start was a good idea.” 

Question: “I know the business aspect always comes in with guys when they’re in the last year of their deal, whether they’re younger or older, did you guys think there was a chance he was going to do the hold in type thing at training camp and all that stuff?” 

Khan: “It’s a hypothetical. I don’t know where that would have gone.” 

Question: “With the track record you guys have had with trading away receivers that you guys have drafted, does that impact any vision for how you guys want to assemble your talent or the type of players you want to bring into your organization moving forward?” 

Khan: “No, some of that is just really coincidence with how it’s played out with the position. We’re always trying to get good players regardless of what position it’s at and at any point in the year. I think there’s some coincidence to that. We want to get good players and good people. We’re chasing a championship and every decision we make is based on trying to win a championship, not only in the future, but this year. We’re focused on trying to win a championship this year. I know there are a lot of questions about different things, but there’s a lot of time between now and the start of the season and rest assured, we’re trying to win a championship this year.”