Once again, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves with a need at wide receiver. Trading George Pickens leaves them with a similar problem that they had last year. DK Metcalf is fantastic, but the depth behind him isn’t great. Perhaps the Steelers could use the trade market again to fill the void left by Pickens. The Green Bay Packers have a surplus of young, quality receivers, which makes them seem like a possibly trade partner for Pittsburgh. However, ESPN insider Peter Schrager doesn’t think that’s very likely.
“With the Steelers trading Pickens, there’s been a lot of rumors that [Romeo] Doubs, with his close relationship to [Aaron] Rodgers,” Schrager said Thursday on The Pat McAfee Show. “Rodgers used to always praise him when he was a rookie and say how great Romeo was doing. I’m here to tell you, [Packers head coach Matt] LaFleur is like, ‘Romeo Doubs is great in our building.’
“I don’t think one of those Packers [receivers] is necessarily being shipped either just to make Rodgers happy, which has been an assumption online. I think the Packers are really happy with their young wide receiver group. And they add Matthew Golden, it’s like an NBA basketball team. They’re thrilled with what they’ve got.”
Right now, the Packers have a surplus of talent at receiver. Last year, Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Christian Watson all had more than 500 receiving yards. Dontayvion Wicks also had over 400 yards and five touchdowns.
All those players are still currently under contract with the Packers. They also took Golden in the first round of the draft this year. He wasn’t the only receiver they drafted, either. The Packers also selected Savion Williams in the third round.
That’s six receivers who seem likely to make Green Bay’s 53-man roster this year. While the NFL is a pass-friendly league, that’s a lot of mouths to feed. The Packers should be happy with that room because that’s a good problem to have. Those players are all younger than 26, although Watson will turn 26 soon.
However, having that many receivers that want the ball is still a problem, and it reared its head last year. Doubs was suspended for one game, reportedly because he had expressed his displeasure at not being more involved in the offense.
With the Packers adding more talented receivers, it doesn’t seem like that problem is going to go away. Despite that, Schrager is reporting that LaFleur doesn’t seem intent on dealing any of those pass catchers.
Obviously, with Rodgers’ connection to the Packers, if he joins the Steelers, it makes sense for them to try to add one of those receivers. While Rodgers isn’t totally familiar with all of them, he did spend time with Watson and Doubs. That slight familiarity could help Rodgers settle into Pittsburgh.
However, that likely wouldn’t be the Steelers’ driving reason to make a deal with the Packers. Those receivers are all young and talented and could instantly make the Steelers’ receiver room better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Green Bay is looking to make a deal right now. Maybe that will change, though. There’s a lot of offseason left.
