The Pittsburgh Steelers still have some holes to fill, though there’s still a lot of offseason left. After trading starting WR Diontae Johnson, thus far they’ve only replaced him with Van Jefferson. This draft class is reputed to be a good one for wide receivers, but they may need more than one. Given the number of needs elsewhere, they may hesitate using two picks on one position, so another veteran could be targeted. Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shared some options on 93.7 The Fan.
“Time’s ticking away. I wouldn’t be against Hunter Renfrow. I wouldn’t be against Tyler Boyd if the price is right. Josh Reynolds, I saw taking a visit to another team later in the week”, he told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller.
“There are some possibilities out there, and this is a time where things get slow”, he continued about the Steelers’ options. “It’s not as fast-paced as last week so things could drag on a little bit, but they’ve got big holes in the roster at starter and the number three, so they’ve got to get that squared away here in the next couple of months for sure”.
Fittipaldo doesn’t sound particularly high on third-year Steelers WR Calvin Austin III, who caught 17 passes last year. He seems to view Austin’s upside as a third receiver at best, and ideally a fourth. As for Jefferson, I’m not sure that he moves the needle much. You certainly don’t make a move you want to make because he’s on the team.
We’ve talked about Boyd to the Steelers a lot, and honestly, the longer he remains unsigned, the more plausible it is. He’s probably asking for more than teams are willing to pay, given recent trends in his game. Now 30, he’s coming off a four-year, $43 million contract, and I don’t see him at eight figures.
Renfrow is an interesting name for the slot. Recently released, the Las Vegas Raiders signed him to a two-year, $31.7 million extension in 2022. That’s probably more than they should have been willing to pay at the time, with which they now evidently agree. Recent years due to injury and offensive incompetence have seen his numbers decline as well. In 2021, however, he caught 103 passes for 1,038 yards and 9 touchdowns. Still, that’s the outlier in his career.
As for Reynolds, 29, he just completed a two-year, $6 million deal with the Detroit Lions. Last season, he caught 40 passes for 608 yards and five touchdowns, playing a career-high 832 snaps. The Steelers can get him cheaper than the others, most likely, but he’s also the least likely to impact the offense much.
I do think the Steelers need to do something on the veteran market before the draft other than the Jefferson signing. We’ve dealt with rumors about possibly trading for Brandon Aiyuk, for example, but that probably proves too cost prohibitive.
