The Pittsburgh Steelers just traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys for a third-round pick and a late-round pick swap, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Considering that the Steelers are still actively trying to recruit quarterback Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback, it’s worth taking a look at their wide receiver unit sans Pickens.
With Pickens out of the picture, the clear number one receiver on the team is DK Metcalf, who the Steelers traded for this offseason via the Seattle Seahawks, but the depth behind Metcalf is very shallow. The team signed 33-year-old Robert Woods to a one-year, $2 million contract after a 2024 season with the Houston Texans that saw Woods record almost as many punt return yards (144) as receiving yards (203), despite making four starts on offense. Besides Pickens, Calvin Austin III was the only other Steelers receiver on the 2024 team to record more than 200 receiving yards last year (548). According to Pro Football Focus, the 162-pound Austin played the majority of his snaps last season as a slot receiver, not as an outside threat.
This is all to say: The Steelers really don’t have many options at outside receiver beyond Metcalf, unless they’re really sold on Roman Wilson, a 2024 draft pick who played all of one game as a rookie after starting the season on the physically unable to perform list and ending the year on the injured reserve.
Maybe Pittsburgh’s plan is for some combination of Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Skylar Thompson to throw the ball to arguably the worst pass-catching group in the league when you exclude WR1s. Going into Year 19 of his NFL head coaching career, though, I doubt that’s what Mike Tomlin, who has never had a losing season, is preparing for.
If Tomlin is able to land an aging veteran like Aaron Rodgers (or Kirk Cousins), the team could be in the market for a rental receiver, and a rental receiver who has experience with Rodgers is the Packers’ Romeo Doubs, who has made 35 starts as an outside receiver in three years with Green Bay. Doubs is going into the final year of his rookie contract, and after the Packers spent two top-100 picks on Matthew Golden and Savion Williams, it seems unlikely that Doubs is going to receive an extension from the team. On top of that, contributing receivers Jaylen Reed and Dontayvion Wicks are still under contract for multiple seasons for Green Bay, and Christian Watson’s long-term status with the Packers is very much up in the air due to his late-2024 ACL injury. As far as mouths to feed in 2026 go for Green Bay, you can make the case that Doubs, previously a starter, is now sixth in the pecking order.
Compensation aside, the Steelers trading for Doubs, be it with Rodgers under center or Cousins, makes a lot of sense for where both teams’ receiver rooms are at. Don’t be surprised if these dots are eventually connected, especially if Rodgers does end up signing up to play for Pittsburgh in 2025.
Depending on how teams evaluate Doubs’ injury outlook, with his history of concussions, he could be looking at a contract in the ballpark of Khalil Shakir’s deal next offseason, a contract with an average salary of $13.3 million per year. Like Doubs, Shakir was a Day 3 selection from the 2022 draft class who has had similar NFL production to the Nevada product. While some might balk at that price due to Doub’s previous concussions, it’s worth noting the New Orleans Saints didn’t blink at picking up Chris Olave’s fifth-year option, another receiver who has several concussions on his resume. Olave will now make a fully guaranteed $15.5 million with the Saints in 2026.
According to Over the Cap, losing a $13 million per year player in free agency is roughly equal to a fifth-round pick for the compensatory draft pick formula. If Doubs were to sign a Shakir-like deal in the 2026 offseason, that’s what the Packers would get back in 2027 for letting Doubs walk. So if the Steelers can get close to that compensation via a trade, don’t be shocked if it’s enough to get a deal done.