Sitting at 6-2 and riding high coming out of the bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers had just added a few big names at the trade deadline with wide receiver Mike Williams and outside linebacker Preston Smith joining the team for a fifth- and a seventh-round pick, respectively.
Those moves seemingly bolstered the roster in a big way with Williams providing an answer at receiver and Smith shoring up depth at outside linebacker.
Right away, Williams made his impact felt by catching the game-winning touchdown in Week 10 on the road against the Washington Commanders, lifting the Steelers to 7-2. Also, Smith had a sack in the win over the Commanders, the trade-deadline acquisitions paying off right away.
But down the stretch, the Steelers fell apart, losing five straight games to end the season with a whimper in an embarrassing Wild Card Round loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Despite the ugly end to the season and the limited production from Williams and Smith, Steelers GM Omar Khan would do the deadline trades again if he could.
“You know, I think both those guys helped us. If I had to do it again, I would do it again, but at the end of the day, the result was, you know, we lost five straight games and that’s not good enough,” Khan said of the trade deadline moves during a media session at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Initially, Williams and Smith were big boosts to the roster. The Steelers had a significant need at WR after missing out on Brandon Aiyuk during the offseason and then reportedly checking in on Cooper Kupp during the season. Williams was a consolation prize, but he caught a game-winning touchdown right away. That made the trade worth it immediately.
Smith was key depth for the Steelers with Alex Highsmith out of the lineup, too. But ultimately, neither were those significant game-changers who helped the Steelers get over the hump.
Williams finished his Steelers tenure with just nine receptions for 132 yards and a score on only 13 targets, playing only 171 snaps, while Smith had 2.0 sacks and a fumble recovery in 161 snaps. Smith was then cut early in the offseason while Williams is set to hit free agency.
Losing out on the pair of draft picks hurts, but the Steelers were correct in making the moves that they did. They just didn’t pay off like they hoped they would, and that’s the risk of being active at the trade deadline.
