Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. 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: The wide receiver has really perked up since the first training camp practice almost two weeks ago, where he had a rough day failing to complete several plays. While there has been some inconsistency, he is showing the capacity to be the playmaker they anticipated he could be in last year’s draft.
After being the first player featured in this column with the opening of training camp, and in a negative light, it is due time for him to be the first player to receive an update. Calvin Austin III had a rough first training camp practice, his first work other than OTAs and minicamp in a long time, failing to complete multiple catches.
But he’s delivered on several big plays since then and has grown comfortable seemingly by the day. Was the first day just a fluke, random occurrence? Were there some jitters with it being the first time he was on a field in front of fans since he injured his foot last year?
Either way, it was always a given that his bad day was going to be a low point from which highlights would follow. Predictably, they have. His timed speed at least year’s Combine has been evident on the field over the course of the past two weeks, notable given the nature of the injury that robbed him of his rookie season.
Of course, we’re all still waiting to see him inside an NFL stadium for the first time, which will finally come at the end of the week. He should see a considerable amount of playing time, though how much work—if any—he’ll get with Kenny Pickett in the game is questionable. Pickett might not play at all in the first preseason game.
Austin was showing up well in the early portions of training camp last year before going down the day before the team’s first preseason game, so he has gotten this far before. There’s no reason to think at this point he’s going to get hurt again in some predictable way.
At the moment, he is competing for playing time behind Diontae Johnson and George Pickens, hoping perhaps to steal some snaps from veteran Allen Robinson II as a sort of change of pace with his speed, quickness, and run-after-catch ability. He’s done it on Chuck Noll Field. Do it in the preseason and he’ll be doing it on Sundays as well.
