Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: WR Calvin Austin III
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Since getting back on the practice field, second-year wide receiver Calvin Austin III has really gotten talked up by his teammates and coaches, seeming to imply that the team is planning to have a fairly sizeable role for him this year.
A 2022 fourth-round draft pick, Calvin Austin III’s next snap played inside of an NFL stadium will also be his first. The Memphis product suffered what eventually turned into a season-ending foot injury just before the Steelers’ first preseason game last year and thus never got to show what he can do.
Teammates, coaches, and reporters, as well as fans, however, were all impressed by the flashes that he had shown in the first handful of practices at Latrobe last year. He does have great speed, and unlike some other players in the past, that seemed to translate onto an NFL practice field.
Of course, we didn’t get to see if it would translate into an NFL game, but it’s increasingly looking as if we will. Not only is he back on the practice field and seemingly back to 100 percent physically, or at least close to it, the conversations are turning to what roles he could play.
Obviously the Steelers see him as a potential deep threat, something he discussed himself, a role in which he could either be the primary option or a decoy to open things up underneath. Yet, running back Najee Harris even talked about him being deployed all over the offense, including out of the backfield, which isn’t unheard of in Pittsburgh’s offense, something the Steelers did with Ryan Switzer, for example.
Then there is the potential for contributions on special teams. Austin will be competing for the return roles, and he does have a background returning punts at the college level, so we could be seeing him on the field a fair bit this year.
That is, at least, if everything continues to go according to plan. Not only does he have to make it through the offseason healthy, he has to earn whatever roles he might eventually occupy. Right now, he hasn’t earned anything yet—up to and including a spot on the 53-man roster—even if it seems more likely than not he will be in the discussion.
