A Bigger WR Room Could Be the Right Path In Pittsburgh
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
Despite the score, Saturday’s preseason loss was a step forward for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the clock ticked to zero, a relative calm came over the Chicken Little portion of Steeler Nation, who had spent the previous week screaming and melting down about the quarterback, the offensive line, and the offense in general. No one believes there aren’t problems in Pittsburgh, but after a relatively capable performance, we can focus on some rational conversations as cut day approaches. You know, issues such as: What are they going to do with their wide receiver depth?
After an exhausting parade of rumors, it would be foolish to think Brandon Aiyuk will ever be in Pittsburgh. That leaves the team with a stud No. 1 option in George Pickens and the hope that a rotation of role players can fill the rest of the void.
Conventional wisdom would say the team likely won’t carry receivers, meaning that they’ll likely decide to cut one of two veterans to cut in Scotty Miller or Dez Fitzpatrick.
Miller would provide a comfort blanket for Arthur Smith after spending 2023 in his system in Atlanta, and Miller has shown flashes in the preseason of being a crafty veteran capable of making a big play. Then there’s Fitzpatrick who, alongside Calvin Austin III, can provide a downfield spark. He left Steelers fans with a reminder of just that in Game 3 of the preseason, hauling in a 59-yard pass with plenty of explosiveness after the catch. When you couple that with his developing role on special teams, Fitzpatrick’s someone you’d hate to see walk out the door.
“I don’t know if you can keep them both, and that’s the reality,” Chris Hoke told CBS Pittsburgh while appearing on the KDKA Nightly Sports Call Saturday. “There’s going to be some tough decisions when you have a Scotty Miller and a Dez Fitzpatrick, two guys who I think are deserving of making the roster, and I don’t know if you can keep them both. It’s an interesting situation there with Cordarrelle Patterson. A running back? A receiver? Can he do both? He’s a little older but I think he showed on that 31-yard touchdown run that he still has impressive speed and was able to make some moves. We’ll see how that all plays together.”
While Hoke makes a good point here, it’s important that he pairs conventional wisdom with the reality of the situation.
In his prime, Van Jefferson was an absolute stud No. 2 in this league. He offered exactly the sort of skills you’d want in the role, running routes with precision, boasting steady hands, and making blocks downfield. But this isn’t young Van Jefferson anymore. Expecting him to be a top-tier second option is not a fair expectation.
Austin represents the explosiveness Pittsburgh has so desperately needed since the days of the Killer B’s, but he has yet to prove any regular-season consistency in his career.
Once the season gets rolling, there’s no telling how these players will truly perform in Smith’s offense. It’s impossible to know how they will gel with their likely quarterback, Russell Wilson, with whom they haven’t had nearly enough reps to develop a rapport.
Additionally, Smith’s historical love for tight ends leads one to believe that this could be the Pat Friermouth breakout season we’ve all desperately waited for. The big playmaker is easily the odds-on favorite to be the team’s second receiving threat, regardless of who technically wins the No. 2 WR gig.
Now might be the time to look at other positional groups on the roster to free up a spot to keep both Miller and Fitzpatrick. Perhaps the easy answer is the defensive line room? Pittsburgh may only need eight, especially if they value Dean Lowry over Isaiahh Loudermilk, which seems to be the case around the team. With high-end names on the top of the chart and new top-tier talent in the linebacker group, now could be the perfect time to sacrifice a lineman for an offensive skill player.
The best-case scenario here is Pittsburgh uses five guys to cobble together a competent WR2 and WR3 group. They’d keep their legs and offer speed and veteran savvy to give Wilson and Smith options in a run-heavy play-action scheme. Then as that all comes together, they can drop veteran playmaker Cordarelle Patterson into the mix as a do-it-all gadget guy. It might not be pretty on paper, but if it works, you might find yourself wondering why you ever wanted your favorite team to give all that money to Brandon Aiyuk.
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