This is the third in a series examining the Pittsburgh Steelers roster, position by position, heading into the offseason.
Today: Wide receivers
After spending the 2024 season looking — to no avail — for a wide receiver to pair with George Pickens, the Pittsburgh Steelers will continue their search into the offseason.
They could be trying to identify Pickens’ replacement as well.
With Pickens entering the final year of his rookie contract and his penchant for disruptive behavior on the sidelines wearing on coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers could remake their wide receiver room as they try to upgrade arguably the team’s biggest weakness.
The Steelers finished No. 28 in the NFL in receptions, No. 26 in receiving yards and No. 20 in receiving touchdowns. Pickens missed three games late in the year with a hamstring injury, and he finished with 900 receiving yards. That represented a team high, but it was 240 fewer than he had in his breakthrough 2023 season.
Pickens also averaged a career-low 15.3 yards per catch as he faced extra coverage thanks to the lack of a dependable No. 2 receiver on the roster.
Tomlin didn’t exactly give a ringing endorsement for Pickens when he met the media for his season-ending news conference last week.
“Certainly, there is a lot of room for growth there,” he said. “I think he covered some ground in 2024, but there’s certainly a heck of a lot more ground to be covered, and we’ll see where it leads us.”
It could lead the Steelers to making a splash in free agency by signing one of the top receivers to pair with Pickens. Or it could lead the Steelers to wash their hands of Pickens and trade him in the offseason.
The Steelers took that approach last season when they figured addition by subtraction was preferential to having Diontae Johnson on the roster, and they traded him to Carolina for cornerback Donte Jackson.
The Johnson trade, though, left a void at the position that the Steelers never adequately filled, so the team likely will use a high draft pick — along with free agency — to fortify wide receiver in 2025.
It seems unlikely the Steelers will reward Pickens with a second contract. Some of the top pass catchers in the NFL landed extensions last year worth more than $30 million annually, and the Steelers would be reluctant to pay that type of money to a receiver with Pickens’ maturity lapses.
Free agency is another matter. Pro Football Focus has 10 wide receivers listed among the top 100 potential free agents, including Johnson (No. 78) and the Steelers’ Mike Williams (99).
Five receivers on that list can be found among the top 14 players, led by Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins (first). Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin is fourth, followed by Buffalo’s Amari Cooper (seventh), Houston’s Stefon Diggs (11th) and Kansas City’s DeAndre Hopkins (14th). Ironically, Cooper and Hopkins were traded during the season to playoff-bound teams while the Steelers ended up getting Williams, who contributed just nine catches for 132 yards and one touchdown in nine games in Pittsburgh.
Van Jefferson, among a handful of veteran players the Steelers acquired on low-cost, one-year deals last spring, will be a free agent after contributing just 24 catches for 276 yards and two touchdowns
Like Pickens, Calvin Austin III is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Unlike Pickens, he is coming off career highs in receptions (36), receiving yards (548) and touchdowns (four). The Steelers also are counting on third-round pick Roman Wilson to return to health after injuries limited him to one brief appearance during his rookie season.
Under contract: George Pickens ($4.097 million cap hit), Roman Wilson ($1.3 million), Calvin Austin ($1.22 million), Brandon Johnson ($1.1 million), Lance McCutcheon ($960,000),
Impending free agents: Van Jefferson, Ben Skowronek, Mike Williams, Scotty Miller, Jamal Agnew
Signed elsewhere: Quez Watkins (Arizona Cardinals reserve/future)
Outside perspective: “Amari Cooper could be the calming presence the Steelers’ WR corps needs: Pairing the even-keeled Cooper with George Pickens would be a prudent move to calm the Steelers’ receiver room and split defensive attention.” — Pro Football Focus in an article listing potential landing spots for free agent receivers.