The Pittsburgh Steelers recently watched the San Francisco 49ers trade WR Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders. Washington only gave up a fifth-round pick to get him, but the 49ers didn’t have to eat any of his salary in order to consummate the trade. Given the Steelers’ acknowledged need at the position, were they asleep at the wheel?
According to reports, the Steelers did inquire about Deebo Samuel, but to what extent is unknown. Whether they tried or not to trade for him, however, is not the point. The point is whether they should have been more interested than they were, willing to match the Commanders’ offer. After all, the 49ers traded one of their starting receivers to a team they could see in the conference finals.
“That’s always gonna be the natural question when you see a move like this”, Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said last night on KDKA’s #1 Cochran Sports Showdown when asked if the Steelers should have been more aggressive about Deebo Samuel. “I suppose I wouldn’t have hated that move for the Steelers, but everyone’s talking about the draft compensation, the fifth-rounder. It’s really more so about [the fact that] the Commanders are gonna have to take on this hefty contract for a guy who seemed out of shape when he got there last year and clearly not as productive last season with San Francisco. So I don’t blame the Steelers for not beating that offer”.
The Commanders inherited a $17,462,294 cap hit as part of the trade, which is not insubstantial. It’s not too much to pay for a starting wide receiver, but how do the Steelers view Deebo Samuel? Does he fit what they would like to do on offense, and do they believe he has much left in the tank?
Then there is the George Pickens factor to consider, as Will Graves of the Associated Press pointed out. “If the Steelers had paid $18 million to [Samuel], George Pickens, my God. Could you imagine what his agent would have thought? It’s good that the Steelers did not make that move”.
That’s not an unfair point to make. George Pickens is entering the final year of his contract, and all the discussion is over how they should under no circumstances sign him to an extension. He could stage a hold-in this offseason if he wanted to, which would be an unnecessary distraction. If the Steelers brought in Deebo Samuel and paid him $17.5 million, it would certainly increase the odds of that happening.
But they can’t afford to worry about anybody else’s feelings right now when wide receiver is such a screaming need. It should be an inevitability that the Steelers sign a wide receiver this offseason they have to pay more than Pickens, whether that would have been Samuel or otherwise.
But should it have been Samuel for the Steelers? It’s not as though he is a perennial Pro Bowler who consistently puts up big numbers. He only has one 1,000-yard receiving season in six years, and 26 of his 42 touchdowns have come in just two seasons. He only has 22 receiving touchdowns with 20 rushing touchdowns, and we don’t know how that would translate to the Steelers’ offense.
