{"id":51277,"date":"2025-05-15T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T05:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/51277\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T05:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T05:30:10","slug":"steelers-unlikely-to-add-wr-in-near-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/51277\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Unlikely To Add WR In Near Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Steelers\u2019 Aaron Rodgers<\/a> courtship still on, the team made George Pickens<\/a> its latest contract-year wide receiver traded<\/a>. Rather than pairing the talented wideout with D.K. Metcalf<\/a>, Pittsburgh passed and is resetting around its high-priced trade acquisition.<\/p>\n

On the surface, it would appear the Pickens trade leaves the Steelers in need of a replacement. After all, they spent much of 2024 searching for a player to pair with Pickens. This included an aggressive Brandon Aiyuk<\/a> pursuit and later looks into Christian Kirk<\/a> and even Metcalf before the 2024 deadline. Mike Williams<\/a> ended up being Pittsburgh\u2019s play, but production did not follow the former top-10 pick (who has since returned to the Chargers<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>[RELATED: Small Market Formed For Pickens]<\/a><\/p>\n

This year, Omar Khan and Co. may be content to wait. The Steelers are more likely to see how their young batch of potential Metcalf complementary pieces looks before pursuing a Pickens replacement, SI.com\u2019s Albert Breer notes<\/a>. Pittsburgh does roster multiple intriguing rookie-contract cogs, and the team\u2019s only known commodity behind Metcalf \u2014 Robert Woods<\/a> \u2014 is on his fifth squad and entering his 13th season.<\/p>\n

Calvin Austin<\/a>, in particular, is a player the Steelers are higher on than most realize, Breer adds. The slot target has made progress since going off the 2022 draft board in Round 4, moving from a full-season absence to 180 yards in 2023 to 548 in \u201924. Austin\u2019s size (5-foot-9, 162 pounds), however, effectively brings a low ceiling on his capabilities alongside Metcalf. That said, the contract-year performer will almost definitely play another central role in the Steelers\u2019 passing attack.<\/p>\n

Roman Wilson<\/a> may be the more interesting piece here, as the Steelers have an established track record of identifying wideout talent on Day 2 0f a draft. Wilson, however, basically redshirted as a rookie. Ankle and hamstring injuries kept Wilson off the field for just about his entire rookie season. He played just five offensive snaps in 2024. Expecting the Michigan product to go from such sparse usage to potential No. 2 wide receiver is probably unrealistic, even considering the Steelers\u2019 history of development here. But the team still views Wilson as a key piece, even as rumors of the Steelers \u2014 as the Rodgers wait continues \u2014 pursuing Allen Lazard<\/a> (or potentially another of the QB\u2019s former Packer targets) have circulated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Steelers gave Woods a one-year, $2MM deal<\/a> ($745K guaranteed) but added him after a 203-yard 2024 season. Years removed from his Rams apex, the 33-year-old target also does not profile as a player capable of making a difference in a starting role. However, Woods would bring some insurance in case Wilson is again not ready. That scenario would almost definitely, however, lead the Steelers to reignite their WR pursuit before the post-Week 9 deadline. For now, it appears Metcalf \u2014 who played with Tyler Lockett<\/a> throughout his Seahawks career and with Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/a> for the past two seasons \u2014 will have less around him going into training camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Steelers\u2019 Aaron Rodgers courtship still on, the team made George Pickens its latest contract-year wide receiver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[8741,7,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-51277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-calvin-austin-iii","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114510208977708058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}