Who is the Steelers’ No. 2 WR, and is he already on the roster?
The Steelers opened a hole at wide receiver after trading George Pickens, but do they have the means to fill it? Since the trade, they haven’t added any veteran receivers. They had some internal candidates, but all are steep drop-offs in talent. The Steelers made their offense worse with this move, but, they hope, their team better in the long run.
The Steelers basically have three candidates of reasonable plausibility, none of them ideal. The one with the highest upside is Roman Wilson, their 2024 third-round pick who basically never played last year. Then there’s Calvin Austin III, whom many believe has the ceiling of a WR No. 3. Finally, there is veteran Robert Woods, who is long past his prime.
Of course, if the Steelers shifted more focus to tight ends, the second wide receiver wouldn’t matter as much. They do like their duo of Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington and started throwing to the latter more. Freiermuth caught a team-best seven touchdown passes last year but could stand to see more targets.
But you still need at least two really solid wide receivers, because at some point you’ll be behind. No matter how good your tight ends and running backs are, you need insulation, at least, at wide receiver. And who do the Steelers have, in terms of obvious candidates?
The Steelers may like Austin more than those on the outside realize, but can he be a full-time starter? His size does present limitations in his game that show up the more he plays, but he can also deliver a dagger. Roman Wilson has an intriguing skill set—we just haven’t seen it yet.
Arguably the three biggest names available among free agents at wide receiver are Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, and Gabe Davis. Will the Steelers go after one of them, and how long will they wait? It might not be until training camp that they really start to worry about this. That’s when they kicked Brandon Aiyuk talks into high gear before the wide receiver pulled the plug.
The Steelers are rebuilding, or reloading, whatever they feel the need to call it, after another disappointment last season. Though they limped into the playoffs, they once again embarrassed themselves therein.
Just like last year, the biggest question hanging over the Steelers is the quarterback question. While they ultimately traded George Pickens, they have other decisions to make. The 2025 NFL Draft class is now behind us, so most of the roster construction is complete.
But we still have a long offseason ahead for Steelers football, or football in shorts. Certain will-he-or-won’t-he situations remain in play, which we continue to monitor. Now it’s about evaluating the roster in place and filling holes as we go.
