{"id":913594,"date":"2026-06-08T19:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/913594\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:42:22","slug":"is-steelers-wr-michael-pittman-due-for-breakout-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/913594\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Steelers WR Michael Pittman Due for Breakout Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"MichaleMichael Pittman at his introductory press conference on March 13, 2026. — Pittsburgh Steelers\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports<\/a> named one under-the-radar breakout star candidate for each AFC team entering 2026. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sullivan has wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. tabbed for a banner year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you even remember that Michael Pittman Jr. was traded to Pittsburgh? With all the big trades that have gone down, the Steelers landing Pittman has certainly flown under the radar,\u201d Sullivan wrote. \u201cThe veteran pass catcher gives Pittsburgh the secondary receiver option that they\u2019ve been starved for, even after trading for D.K. Metcalf last offseason. In 2025, Metcalf led the Steelers with 850 receiving yards, while the next most-productive wide receiver was Calvin Austin III with 372 receiving yards. Pittman now gives them a solid go-to option opposite Metcalf, hauling in 80 passes for 784 yards and seven touchdowns last season in Indianapolis. He could be a difference-maker in what is slated to be Aaron Rodgers\u2019 final season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and Germie Bernard at OTAs on May 18, 2026 \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

The Steelers traded for Pittman this offseason to finally fill their void at No. 2 wide receiver. However, it turns out they may have much bigger plans for the veteran.<\/p>\n

Pittman recently revealed that the Steelers are planning to take full advantage of his versatility on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played every single spot so far,\u201d Pittman said. \u201cJust being able to move around, because you never know what happens during the course of the NFL season. So, just being available at any position, so I\u2019m just gonna keep on dialing that in. Same thing with DK [Metcalf] and Germ [Bernard] and Rome [Wilson] and those guys. We\u2019ve all been moving around and have seen all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittman, 28, has already had a pair of 1,000-yard seasons in his NFL career, but if what he says is true, he could be in store for his third in 2026.<\/p>\n

There has been some debate about whether Pittman is still the same player that he was during those seasons, but last year, he was still able to rack up 80 catches for 784 yards and seven touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Now in a new offense on a new team, the sky could be the limit for Pittman. His former quarterback Daniel Jones was certainly sad to see him get dealt to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cBummed to see Pittman go,\u201d\u00a0Jones said<\/a>. \u201cHe was a tremendous leader, a great player, extremely productive, and a guy you can count on. As tough as they come, always being out there. Wish him the best. I know he\u2019ll crush it with the Steelers. They\u2019re lucky to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Pittman became available after the Colts signed fellow receiver\u00a0Alec Piece<\/a>\u00a0to a long-term contract extension during the early stages of free agency. That set up a salary cap logjam that Indianapolis was able to alleviate by trading Pittman to the Steelers.<\/p>\n

A native of Bakersfield, California, Pittman has recorded 485 catches for 5,254 yards and 25 touchdowns in his professional career.<\/p>\n

Aaron Becker contributed. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Michael Pittman<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Michael Pittman at his introductory press conference on March 13, 2026. — Pittsburgh Steelers Tyler Sullivan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,4983,6,520,57,2360,426,2395],"class_list":["post-913594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-football","tag-michael-pittman","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116716197967383613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913594","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=913594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}