Feb. 9, 2026, 6:51 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Calvin Austin III \u2014 one of the many Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> scheduled to hit free agency<\/a> in March \u2014 addressed his future in the Black and Gold.<\/p>\n Making a guest appearance on the J&J Show on 92.9 FM ESPN, Austin expressed gratitude for the city of Pittsburgh but described the uncertainty surrounding a return next season.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, since Coach T did step down, even if I do return, whether I stay or leave, it\u2019s gonna be a new situation regardless. Even if I stay, we have a whole new staff,\u201d Austin said Monday.<\/a> \u201cSo, it\u2019s definitely something I\u2019m excited about and been praying over.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026Pittsburgh, just being real, they might not want me, or they have a different vision. And that\u2019s why I say at the end of the day, it\u2019s just a straight business decision.\u201d<\/p>\n While Austin previously expressed a desire to remain a Steeler, he also admitted to being excited about becoming a free agent.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Whether or not Austin returns in 2026, wide receiver will definitely be a position the Steelers<\/a> need to target heavily in both free agency and the draft process.<\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers<\/a>\u00a0coverage, including any offseason moves, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 9, 2026, 6:51 p.m. ET Calvin Austin III \u2014 one of the many Pittsburgh Steelers scheduled to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[95878,7,6,520,57,2360,96718,96719,426,95882,96793,95893,95888,95895,95897,95906,96720,96071,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-741792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","15":"tag-sstsnsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagcalvin-austin-iii","19":"tag-tagfacebook","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-negative","23":"tag-tagoverall-positive","24":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","25":"tag-tagsmg-timely","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116044463084424828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741792","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=741792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}