The Steelers are well into their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answered, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? How might they tackle the 2023 NFL Draft? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: Which wide receivers will make the 53-man roster beyond the top three players?
It can’t help but be tempting to carry extra wide receivers in today’s NFL. I’m sure every team in the league would like to have six every year, maybe seven or more on occasion. But roster requirements often dictate fewer, with five likely being the most common number, barring special teamers.
With the Steelers bringing into training camp one of the deepest rosters that they have had top to bottom in years, it may be a challenge for them to carry six again, though they did manage to do it last year. A number of those receivers, though are now gone.
Diontae Johnson and George Pickens are on the top of the food chain. We know that Allen Robinson II was brought in to be the number three guy this year, with the chance of being around beyond that if things go well. Nobody else has a guaranteed job.
That includes Calvin Austin III, the 2022 fourth-round draft pick who spent his rookie season on the Reserve/Injured List nursing a foot injury he suffered the day before the first preseason game. While he has a very good chance of making the team, he will have to earn it, and neither he nor we can take it as a given.
Beyond Austin, we do have two other wide receivers returning from last season’s roster in Miles Boykin, a special teams “ace, so to speak, and Gunner Olszewski. The latter was signed a year ago to be their return man. With the man who replaced him, Steven Sims, now gone, he could win the job back.
This group could well be the six that enters the season on the 53-man roster. Or maybe one of the latter three doesn’t make the cut. Maybe more. The Steelers also have Anthony Miller and others with NFL experience on the roster.
Dan Chisena is a veteran special teamer as well, who could compete with Boykin for that job. Hakeem Butler is a physical talent who just got back on the right track in the XFL. Cody White has been here before. Rookie Jordan Byrd is a return specialist.
There are options. We won’t know where they might reasonably rank, however, until we start to get a look at them in training camp and the preseason.
