Player: WR Calvin Austin III
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: After a two-game lull, Calvin Austin III got back into a groove, making impactful and timely plays. The third-year receiver refuses to be counted out and is quietly having a solid season. While his size continues to bear its limitations, he finds ways to make his mark. It is only by virtue of the Steelers failing to preserve his go-ahead touchdown that we won’t talk about last night more.
Mike Williams isn’t supplanting anybody just yet, at least not in target share. Though he played 19 snaps, he saw zero of the Steelers’ 28 pass attempts come his way. Calvin Austin III saw three of them, catching every one for a net total of 78 yards.
That included a game-long 46-yard reception and then the go-ahead 23-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. As he so often does, Calvin Austin found his way behind the defense, and he made the play when he needed to.
This continues a bit of a trend Austin had been on before the bye. While he didn’t have much impact in the previous two games, he was finding his moments before that. In the last game before the bye, he caught three passes on four targets for 54 yards and a touchdown.
On the season, Austin now has 20 catches for 354 yards and three touchdowns. He is tied with TE Pat Freiermuth for the most touchdowns on the roster, and he has already bettered his numbers from last season. Yes, he has more touchdowns than George Pickens.
Calvin Austin is on pace to catch 31 passes for 548 yards 4-5 touchdowns. During his six games with Justin Fields, he caught 10 passes for 167 yards and one touchdown, a 55-yard scoring carrying a lot of that weight. In the past five games with Russell Wilson, he has 10 catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns. Unsurprisingly, there is an uptick in production, even if not dramatically so. The question is, how will he close out the last six games of the season? And how will Mike Williams impact his opportunities?
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
