Buy Or Sell: The Steelers have a “bottom five” wide receiver room right now.
Explanation: The Steelers parted with starting wide receiver Diontae Johnson this offseason, as well as Allen Robinson II. So far, they’ve only replaced those losses with a pair of presumably Veteran Salary Benefit signings. George Pickens has star potential, but beyond him, the room is deeply unproven.
The end tally caused Brad Spielberger to proclaim they may have a “bottom five” receiver room. We don’t have to go through all 32 rooms around the league, and obviously they’re incomplete right now. But is one potential star alone enough to climb out of the bottom, say, 10 rooms in the league?
Buy:
Virtually every team has at least one “star”-type talent or at least two average to above average players. George Pickens is nice, but let’s be honest, he has nine touchdowns to his name so far. He’s not a Pro Bowler yet even if he thinks so—and yes, that’s not all his fault, blah blah blah Kenny Pickett, blah blah blah Matt Canada.
But we’re talking about the here and now, and right now Pickens represents as much potential as actuality. We think he can be a phenomenal player because he makes phenomenal plays here and there. But Calvin Austin III? Quez Watkins and Van Jeferson? Pickens had Diontae Johnson last year to help draw attention away from him. In this room, every team is doubling if not tripling him.
We’re raving about 63-1,140-5 then a guy like Nico Collins put up 80-1,297-8 in fewer games. I mean, even Adam Thielen is still putting up 1,000-yard seasons.
Sell:
It’s true that, as of now, Pickens has to pull the vast majority of the weight for the Steelers’ receiver room. He’s the only one in that room who has done much of anything. But they do have guys who can complement him, including Austin and Watkins as speed threats to stress coverages.
And Van Jefferson is an interesting player with potential in the right system. Last year proved to be a wash with the in-season trade, and the year before that he dealt with some injuries, but he can be at least a No. 3 guy if he’s healthy and has a competent offensive coordinator who can game plan for him. Add all that up and it’s at least enough to get out of the basement. And, of course, all of these rooms are going to look substantially different by September, anyway. But that’s beside the current point.
With the Steelers’ 2023 season in the rearview mirror following a disappointing year that came up short in the playoffs once again, it’s time to start asking more questions. Questions about the team’s future in 2024 and beyond. Questions about The Standard.
The rookie class of a year ago was on the whole impressive, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2024. And they likely need a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2024 NFL draft yet again. In addition to a revisitation of the coaching staff.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
