Early this morning, Pittsburgh Steelers fans were in a tizzy on X/Twitter calling for general manager Omar Khan to do something, anything. He certainly did that, first trading for New York Jets WR Mike Williams. Then he went back to the phones and swapped a seventh-round pick for Green Bay Packers edge defender Preston Smith.
We all knew that the Steelers wanted a wide receiver. But as head coach Mike Tomlin said earlier on Tuesday, the team is always looking to improve wherever it can. And the Steelers love to get after opposing quarterbacks, but they’ve dealt with injuries to both Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig this season. So getting Smith for next to nothing makes all the sense in the world.
“From the Steelers’ standpoint, they could always use an extra pass rusher,” Pete Prisco said on CBS Sports HQ’s coverage of the trade Tuesday. “I mean, the Steelers love standing those guys up. And you have [T.J.] Watt, you have Highsmith, you have Herbig. But he’s banged up a little bit. So when he’s banged up a little bit, you go get another one.”
And as far as getting “another one” as Prisco says, the Steelers could have done a lot worse than Smith. He’s played in 155 games over 10 NFL seasons, four with the Washington Commanders and six with the Packers. He has 68.5 sacks, 71 tackles for a loss, and 155 quarterback hits in that time frame. He has 450 total tackles, 10 forced fumbles, and five interceptions as well.
Smith’s production has been down in 2024, though. He started all nine of the Packers’ games prior to the trade but only has 2.5 sacks, two tackles for a loss, and four quarterback hits. However, he was playing in a new scheme that had him on the defensive line in a four-down linemen alignment. He’s consistently played as an outside linebacker for most of his career.
And that’s exactly where Smith will be in Pittsburgh. He’ll be a rotational figure, helping spell T.J. Watt and Highsmith. And that’s why former NFL general manager Rick Spielman thinks it’s a great move by the Steelers.
“Kudos to Omar Khan and the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Spielman said after Prisco gave his thoughts. “Not only did they get Mike Williams, but they got another pass rusher. Now you got four legitimate guys. They have, coming out of the bye, they have to go to Washington. Then after that, they have all their divisional games coming up. So with injuries that can occur, T.J. Watt has had some durability concerns as well, this gives them insurance to have another pass rusher.”
The Steelers have had to rely on players like Jeremiah Moon and DeMarvin Leal stepping in at outside linebacker at points this season. I think the team will be much more comfortable sending a player with 68.5 career sacks in Preston Smith out there when needed.
Check out Alex Kozora’s reaction to the Preston Smith trade for more thoughts.
And you can watch the entire segment with Spielman and Prisco below:
