Having two strong wide receivers on the outside can do wonders for an offense. That is something the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t really enjoyed the luxury of this season. Receivers not named George Pickens have provided splash at times, but nothing consistent enough for defenses to game plan around stopping in any significant way.
That all has a chance to change with the Steelers’ trade-deadline addition of WR Mike Williams. The former top-10 draft pick made his presence known just five days after joining the team with the game-winning touchdown catch on a 32-yard moon ball from Russell Wilson. Pickens told reporters on Friday that Williams can help free him up “a lot”.
“At the end of that Washington game, I didn’t even know, he was sitting on the bench the whole time and then when his number was called, he made a play,” Pickens said in a video posted by Steelers Live on X. “So with him doing that, that’s going to put them on their big board as well, so it’s gonna be great for me. They’re gonna have to cover two guys.”
Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III have made some plays, but neither is a 6-4 receiver who specializes in the deep passing game. That has resulted in additional attention for Pickens with safeties helping over top in an effort to take him away.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes had an excellent stat about this on Thursday’s episode of NFL Live.
“In the three games that Russell Wilson has played, he has hit 12 big plays against single-high coverage, which is second-most in the NFL in that span,” Kimes said. “Against split safeties, he has only hit one, which is 30th.”
Defenses will likely play more looks with two high safeties, which then opens the door for the running game and guys like Pat Freiermuth or Calvin Austin III to get involved underneath in the short and intermediate passing game in the middle of the field. Defenses are going to have some tough choices to make if Williams can become an impact player on the outside opposite of Pickens.
We will see how much Williams sees the field in Week 11 against the Ravens. Last week he saw just nine snaps and one target. I would imagine since it was such a big play in a big moment, he earned enough trust to at least double that snap total. Especially with an extra week to learn the playbook.
