Welcome to the Steelers Michael Pittman

That is a ton of cash for a slot WR. I dunno. I could be thinking about it all wrong.

 

Sorry. I love the Steelers to my grave but the only person I’m giving my left nut to is my wife and as we age I’m not sure she even wants it anymore.

 

Mine doesn’t even want my right one

 

He doesn’t get downfield but he is really good at what he does. Titans want to make life easier for Ward and they have so much cap space it’s not a surprise that they overpaid a bit.

 

From what I’ve seen, Pittman really works the middle and isn’t afraid to take a hit. He had a strong game against the Steelers in 2025, 9 catches for 115 yards, an average of 12.8 yards per catch. Definitely a nice addition imo.

 

Almost the same contract.

Pittman's value is probably better. Likely because he wasn't a UFA.

Robinson is only 25 though. Pittman is is 28.

 

Uhh, another big slow guy but good hands, tough, and a solid blocker. We need a separator!

Lost Pierre, always one step forward two back.

 

In all fairness the Steelers under Mike Tomlin were allergic the MOF.

 

Film room on Pittman from the Depot:
https://steelersdepot.com/2026/03/f...ers-are-getting-in-new-wr-michael-pittman-jr/

Sounds like they are saying his biggest benefit is getting open quickly off the line.

Seems perfect for AR.

And also probably a good safety blanket if we play a young QB.

 

Yeah and Robinson is fairly small.

I know the contract number seems so big at first....but it just kind of lines up to be maybe a tick better than average for the role Pittman plays in an offense.

 

I think it's hard for us to see these numbers as reasonable sometimes.

But the inflation of the cap has been pretty big since it was paused for covid.

As I stated up-thread, the Pittman contract is at best the 26th highest AAV when he signed it.

But he plays a high value position where most teams have 3x starters. So WRs get paid.

As is the case at many positions, we're getting "burned" a bit here by poor drafting. Since guys like CAIII and R Wilson didn't amount to much. So we have to backfill with UFAs (or trades like this). I like that we got him in trade so we didn't have to pay the full UFA premium.

 

I like it..

 

I really don't understand the obsession some have about a player's salary. I'm not paying it so I couldn't care less about what each individual player makes.

 

Wait, wasn't CAIII supposed to be a "separator"?
Oh, you mean a guy who's big AND fast and strong with good hands and a good attitude with great route running who happens to be a free agent who comes dirt cheap! Well why didn't you say so? Those guys are a dime a dozen!

 

The numbers are important because every year is a zero sum gain.

If we paid Gainwell an extra $3-4MM above what we think his value is, then that's $3-4MM less than what we could spend on more important positions than RB2 (like WR2 and CB2).

But FWIW, I don't think the Pittman and Dean contracts are unreasonable re: the cap and their expected value.

I do think that Gainwell got paid more than what he would have been worth in our new offense. But even if we did overpay him, RBs don't make much so the extra $3MM wouldn't have been a huge error (but it would have been an error IMO).

 

I'm thinking league minimum for a dude like that.

 

im obsessed because there is a cap if there wasn't i would say pay pay everybody

 

Right?

 

I love this move, Pittman is really solid, it will be intresting to see what they will do for the slot position now.