During the preseason, WR Calvin Austin III gave us a taste of what he could bring to the table in his first full season with the Steelers after missing his rookie year with a foot injury. He grabbed the attention of fans right away against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, stretching the field vertically down the sideline and pulled away from the defender in coverage for a 67-yard bomb he took to the house. The very next game against the Buffalo Bills, Austin showed us that splash-play ability again on a punt return he took back into Bills’ territory to set up a touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth the very next play.
In Week Three against the Las Vegas Raiders, fans were ecstatic to see that explosive-play element that Austin had in the preseason surface in the regular season. Austin split the coverage down the middle of the field, catching the ball in-stride for a 72-yard touchdown to get Pittsburgh on the board. Given the splash plays that Austin made in preseason play and against Las Vegas in Week Three, it was hard not to be excited for what was to come for the young receiver in his first true NFL season.
However, since that explosive touchdown against the Raiders, we haven’t seen or heard much from Austin, who has five catches on eight targets for 43 yards in the last five games. With the return of WR Diontae Johnson to the lineup, Austin’s snaps have noticeably decreased, going from seeing nearly 70% of the offensive snaps in the games with Johnson on IR to an average of 21% of the snaps the last three games (42 snaps).
Austin seeing his snaps decrease is to be expected with Johnson coming back into the lineup, but it’s difficult to see his impact go to as minimal as you can get. He’s had just two catches for 19 yards since Johnson’s return along with five carries for 21 yards. He’s also averaging just 5.2 yards per punt return on the year with a long of 14 yards, falling short of that spark we saw during preseason play.
Austin isn’t without blame as he is statistically one of the worst receivers in the league when targeted, according to a study done by Arjun Menon. He has one drop on his resume, according to Pro Football Reference, as well as an interception when targeted. Still, Austin doesn’t need a lot of opportunities to break the game open as we saw against the Raiders or even Week One of the preseason against the Buccaneers. Rather, he just needs to be put in position where he gets advantageous matchups on the field where his speed, burst, and acceleration can thrive.
Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has been begging Pittsburgh to run more wide receiver screen passes to give guys like Austin and Johnson the ball in space. Pittsburgh’s screen game wasn’t flashy when utilized under Roethlisberger, but Austin is a receiver who specializes in picking up YAC, having the speed to threaten defenses should he get the ball with room to run. Should Pittsburgh block well in front of him, Austin can be a legit threat to take a screen 20-plus yards if he has space. Quick hitters over the middle on slants and even deep overs would also allow Austin to separate from man coverage, getting a step on defenders to catch the ball in space with room to run.
Putting Austin in positon to stretch the field vertically would also open things up underneath for guys like Johnson and George Pickens. Putting Austin in the slot or out wide to run up the seam could create splash play opportunities to attack between the zones in coverage as well as made the safety have to make a decision to carry him vertically over the top or work over to the boundary to help on Johnson or Pickens, leaving Austin as a threat to take the top off the defense.
The Steelers have had struggles recently getting more than one receiver heavily involved. Johnson has played well the last two games with Pickens, Austin, and Allen Robinson II being relatively quiet. Part of that is the play of QB Kenny Pickett and his ability to locate his targets and adequately get them the football. However, Austin should get more chances in Pittsburgh’s scheme to utilize his speed and explosiveness to help generate more splash plays in the passing game. The Steelers have seen that they have a race car in the garage with Austin. Now it’s just a matter of getting it out on the track, proving that his 2023 season is more than a one-play wonder.
