Outside of George Pickens, the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a wide receiver anybody seems to feel is worth mentioning. Pickens has been a budding star the moment since the Steelers drafted him, and he’s shown many signs of it. Yet he hasn’t had the surroundings in Pittsburgh to allow him to truly thrive. Many believe that he still does not, including the absence of a true complementary receiver.
That’s how The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly feels about it, as he said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday. Like many other reporters, he is waiting on the Steelers to bring in a more substantial wide receiver to pair with Pickens. And part of that is based on what he has seen.
“Right now, there’s just a glaring hole” at wide receiver after Pickens, he said. “You just go to OTAs and you say, ‘Hmm, George Pickens is not gonna be happy with the coverage he’s gonna be getting’. So if you get a guy like [Brandon] Aiyuk or [Deebo] Samuel, obviously, that changes”.
Aiyuk and Samuel are the San Francisco 49ers’ top wide receivers, both of whom they have reportedly been dangled in trade. A recent report indicates the Steelers felt they had a trade in place for one of them during the draft. Kaboly said that he hadn’t heard that personally but wouldn’t be surprised if it were true. And he believes making such a trade to find that complementary asset for Pickens is worth it.
“With the amount of wide receivers in the draft you can get, do you want to spend $30 million on [a wide receiver]?”, Kaboly asked. “Me, probably yeah, because you want to win right now. If you want to win right now, you don’t want to worry about a year or two from now. If you can afford that, yeah, I would grab him in a heartbeat. Because all of a sudden, that changes your entire offense”.
Kaboly also suggested that trading for somebody like Aiyuk makes the Steelers consider the future of George Pickens. If you trade for Aiyuk, you are signing him to a huge contract extension. Are you then doing to sign Pickens to a big extension next year as well? Probably not, so if you’re adding Aiyuk, you’re making him your top wide receiver, in all likelihood.
Regardless of what those on the outside think, the Steelers seem to believe they have championship potential right now. They believe in their vision, including adding Russell Wilson this offseason. They felt they could part with Diontae Johnson because they have Pickens. But do they still believe they are another wide receiver away?
That is probably the main Steelers storyline for the remainder of the offseason. At least in terms of personnel, a starting wide receiver seems the most impactful move. They still have to find their next slot cornerback, but do they have enough starting wide receivers? That’s a more important question.
