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 Gunner Olszewski
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: Currently recovering from a concussion sustained from a hit following a reception he fumbled during Monday night’s win over the Cleveland Browns, the veteran wide receiver authored multiple very negative plays in very little playing time after being inactive during the season opener.
Gunner Olszewski has seven positive offensive plays since arriving in Pittsburgh, most of which were rushes on jet sweeps and end-arounds. His best reception came off of a deflection that wasn’t intended for him but he just happened to catch. He has had one decent kick return and one punt return of positive note.
Often enough, it just seems as though bad things happen when the ball goes his way in a Steelers uniform. After Monday night’s game, he has had two very costly fumbles on offense in hardly a dozen touches. He has had multiple muffed and fumbles on kick and punt returns in limited work, only because he was benched from that duty.
It says a lot that a player who was signed as a free agent to be a return specialist was inactive the first game of his second season, on a team that had separate returners for kickoffs and punts. That means he couldn’t win either job, but rather was the backup for both.
And he only had one shot at a kick return in the last game, authoring one of the dumber plays you’ll see in a while. He toe-tapped a kickoff that was going to go out of bounds at the nine-yard line, which would have induced a penalty that would have spotted the ball at the 40. The lapse in judgement cost 31 yards of field position. Alternatively, he could have signaled for a fair catch at the same spot and, under the new rules this season, had the ball spotted at the 25.
He didn’t do either, and then two drives later, he was unable to hold onto a reception after taking a shot from Browns CB Denzel Ward, fumbling the ball, which led to a Browns touchdown four plays later. Olszewski exited the game at that time due to injury and was later announced as having a concussion.
He only dressed because WR Diontae Johnson and RB Anthony McFarland Jr. are injured and on the reserve list. McFarland was awarded the kick return job, so the Steelers needed somebody to fill in while he was out. Now Olszewski may not be available or capable of filling either job. I hope he clears the protocol as quickly as possible, but he has no right to any confidence in his capabilities at this point. Giving him the opportunity to touch the ball has been a disaster too often with little upside.
