While they could probably still stand to upgrade their wide receiver room, the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking like a much more complete offense with Russell Wilson as their starting quarterback. Much like the Steelers constantly having a good stable of wide receivers with Ben Roethlisberger, Wilson is elevating the current group to make them look better than many initially thought.
Look no further than the numbers of five of their top pass catchers. Other than Pat Freiermuth, every receiver has experienced a notable uptick in their numbers over the last two games with Wilson compared to with Justin Fields over the first six weeks.
| Player | Avg. With Justin Fields |
Avg. With Russell Wilson
|
| George Pickens | 4.3 rec, 60.5 yds, 0 TD |
4.5 rec, 92.5 yds, 0.5 TDs
|
| Calvin Austin III | 1.7 rec, 27.8 yds, 0.2 TDs |
2 rec, 45 yds, 0.5 TDs
|
| Van Jefferson | 1.3 rec, 10.3 yds, 0 TDs |
3 rec, 38.5 yds, 0.5 TDs
|
| Pat Freiermuth | 3.7 rec, 32.3 yds, 0.3 TDs | 2 rec, 35 yds, 0 TDs |
| Darnell Washington | 1 rec, 9.2 yds, 0.2 TDs |
2.5 rec, 32.5 yds, 0 TDs
|
Notice how there were only two pass catchers with over 30 yards per game with Fields in Pickens and Freiermuth. With Wilson, all five of these players are putting up over 30 yards per game. Van Jefferson was supposed to be the team’s WR2 entering the season and was essentially a non-factor until Wilson took over as the starter.
It is probably no surprise that Harris has three straight 100-yard rushing performances for the first time in his NFL career with Wilson at quarterback. The offense has had large issues with maintaining balance over the last few seasons, which has resulted in defenses stacking the box and making life difficult on Harris and the rushing attack.
With Wilson spreading the ball around more and giving the team a viable passing attack, opposing defenses are being forced to respect the pass. The emergence of multiple pass catchers in this offense could also lessen the need to add a receiver in the trade market. I am sure the Steelers will still be poking around, but perhaps it is slightly less urgent now than it was before. Omar Khan has been good about not overpaying in the trade market, but this receiver situation had the potential to push that to its limit. Now he at least has evidence that the passing game can work with Wilson at quarterback.
