Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Pittsburgh Steelers need a legitimate No. 2 wide receiver. It seems to be the only thing people are talking about, as least when news isn’t breaking about contract extensions. The future of the Steelers’ season hangs in the balance as to whether they have one or not. That’s actually pretty much what Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggested on 93.7 The Fan.
“Legit contender? Let’s see what they do at receiver”, he said when asked if the Steelers could be serious competitors this year. “To me, that’s kind of a missing piece to their offense right now. I don’t know if I can look at their offense and take them seriously right now with their receiving corps that they have. And I understand that Arthur Smith is running a run-based offense and I think he’s gonna do a good job. But to me, this is still the NFL in 2024. You have to have some semblance of a passing game to advance and have success in the postseason”.
Of course, you can have a semblance of a passing game without a strong second wide receiver. The Kansas City Chiefs just managed to win a Super Bowl without one, though they also have TE Travis Kelce. The Steelers have TE Pat Freiermuth, but that isn’t quite the same thing.
The Steelers do have George Pickens, whom many seem to believe is a top-five wide receiver talent. He himself believes he has already been snubbed twice for the Pro Bowl in his first two seasons (he wasn’t). But with actual quarterbacks in an actual offense, perhaps that will be enough.
Then again, are Russell Wilson and Justin Fields “enough” at quarterback? Is Arthur Smith “enough” at offensive coordinator? How strong do the Steelers’ strengths need to be to mitigate the lack of a strong second receiver?
Prior to trading Diontae Johnson, of course, the Steelers had two strong wide receivers. Now they have Van Jefferson, Quez Watkins, Scotty Miller, and Calvin Austin III vying with rookie third-round pick Roman Wilson.
Fittipaldo is among those who continue to believe that the Steelers will trade for a wide receiver. Not long ago, he seemed to feel reasonably strongly about the possibility of their trading for Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel. Would the Steelers be a legitimate Super Bowl contender with Aiyuk paired with Pickens? Is the rest of the team in place?
“This defense is built to succeed in the playoffs. I think they can do it”, Fittipaldo said of the other side of the ball for the Steelers. He added that they’ve been wasting their top talent there for years due to offensive incompetence. “I just think the offense needs to step up and give them a shot if they get there this year”.
The problem is, not a lot of big trades happen after April and May. If the Steelers were going to pull off a big trade, it would have happened during the draft, most likely. But let’s say for argument’s sake they do land a legitimate starting wide receiver. With everything else being as it is, what are the Steelers’ odds of winning the next Super Bowl?
