The Steelers are now in 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? 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: Is it safe to buy the Calvin Austin III hype?
One of the most talked-about players during spring practices was WR Calvin Austin III, a second-year player who spent his rookie season on the Reserve/Injured List. A fourth-round pick out of Memphis, his defining trait is billed as his speed, though we haven’t gotten a chance to look at it in a meaningful setting yet.
Austin suffered a foot injury in the practice before the Steelers’ first preseason game. Quite honestly I don’t recall entirely whether he ever managed to even put pads on, but basically only fans who attended the first handful of training camp practices last year have seen him so far.
And yet there are few players, particularly non-rookies, who have been subject to more discussion from his teammates and coaches. RB Najee Harris even suggested that they could use him all over the field, including out of the backfield.
So is it safe to buy the Austin hype? Is he not only going to make the team but be a regular and consistent contributor to the offense, perhaps also serving as a key executor of gadget plays? He is presumably behind Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, and Allen Robinson II on the depth chart, but it’s not unusual for a team to make good use of a fourth receiver.
Then again, this is also an offense with running backs and tight ends that they like to incorporate into the passing game, as well. And aside from the practicalities of rotating him in at wide receiver, or employing four-receiver sets, there is also the matter of him actually proving that he should be getting those snaps, rather than a tight end or a running back, or indeed another wide receiver.
We all want and hope and expect players like Austin to pan out, but I think most of us have been following along for enough time to understand that not every story has a happy ending for these guys.
