Best way to fix our WR position in offseason

Ideally draft one high, first or second round. But your saying this is not a good wr class, so go after Higgins in FA, (dont be cheap) and maybe trade for another guy (dont give up too much draft capital considering we’ll need it for a Qb in 26.
Need three good to great receivers for a playoff run.

 

I think we can hope that Austin and Wilson can cover that 3rd spot well. Austin is a playmaker that would be a good 3rd option. We don't even know what we have in Wilson yet... But it will be hard to get 3 really good WR's, and it will be easy to look good as a third option when Pickens and Higgins are the top 2...

Higgins is walking away with over 20 million bucks a year in FA... Possibly as high as 25. I would be willing to bet it would take 30 a year to get Pickens locked up. I wouldn't mind spending the majority of our FA period on weapons to try to win it all. If we can lock up Wilson on a reasonable deal and then get Pickens and Higgins... we can easily afford that. We have 54 million as we stand now, but cutting Preston Smith would save us 13.4 million (at no dead money) and Holcomb would save us another 6 million (1.6 dead). Ogunjobi would save us 7 million (3.5 dead) but I would only imagine this being something we do if we draft DL in the first. This doesn't even account for an extension for TJ or any other restructuring. We should easily walk into the offseason with over 80 million at our disposal. That means we could pay Wilson and Pickens each 30 a year and Higgins 25, and still have 20+ million to spend (keep in mind first year deals have lower cap hit than AAV) We'd have to work around the cap a bit for 2026 and 2027 but that is fine, the cap keeps going up and Khan is good at these kind of things. We could focus our draft on RB, DL, and CB if we went this route at WR. I think the RB class is strong and there are a few quality DL that would be available at the end of the first round.

 

Greeny, said on the NFL network (think that’s where it was), that outside GP Pitt may have the worst WR group in the league and we were exposed. I’m not a fan of him but that did hit hard. I’m a fan of Omar but if what Greeny said has even an iota of truth to it, then that’s a failure from the top. Particularly, in a year where you have the team and QB to put u in striking distance.

Omar’s smart and I think he wanted to hang onto picks/money to draft one but not having a legit #2 for a HOF QB to go to in a playoff run is a major tic on the ole year end performance review, I’m sure even with himself. To be fair the story has not been written just yet n hindsight is 20/20 but with his competitive nature i bet he’s agonizing over it.

So yeah, ya jus know he’s going to draft one, but meanwhile like us, he’s wondering/hoping someone steps up.

 

I would have no interest in Diggs he would disappear in the playoffs with the Bills, he also acts like a diva sometimes.

 

The Steelers aren't going to spend that kind of money to sign two receivers.

 

Why? Wilson won't be here for the entirety of those contracts and it would be a good way to bring an eventual rookie along. With two stud WR's....

I don't think we're Colbert's Steelers anymore. I wouldn't rule it out with Khan. We already know he wanted to spend big money on Aiyuk... I could see it happening.

 

They are probably going to re-sign Pickens to a very large contract so bringing in another highly paid receiver might be hard.

The big gap in the offence is a reliable slot / possession reviver. George can make big plays but a lot of his targets are down the field, they don’t have someone they can depend on when they need a catch on shorter routes.

A proven mid level free agent would probably be the best option, with Austin / Wilson as the 3/4 in whatever order

I also wouldn’t be shocked if Diontae is back on a proven-it deal. I expect the only reason the Ravens haven’t cut him is because they are afraid the Steelers will pick him up, whether or not that’s a valid concern, who knows. Steelers may have already decided that they’re never having him back.

 

Re-sign Pickens, Wilson and another big name receiver in free agency not going to happen, they will probably draft a WR early in the draft instead.

 

Hire Hines as WR Coach

Oh, also play Fields because Wilson is too short

 

i actually like skowronek. i think this kid can help. he's 6-3 224 . use him. he's bigger than mike williams. i'd sign him back. plus he's a good gunner.

 

Quick question, how much more BS can Mike Tomlin
take with George Pickens? MT has sure had his share of whack jobs.
I am not standing up for MT just wandering why or who
would have patience for such immaturity?

 

not much more - Pickens is a FOOL

 

Hello Mr. Kahn.
Do you feel that certain 'unease' in the air?
That was George Pickens being ruled out again.
He's the guy that had 8 catches for 89 yards last time against the Ravens.
I imagine if feels like that morning you showed up at school to hear "Pop Test this morning" and knowing you didn't even crack a book open last evening.
It's terror.

Maybe Mike Williams comes through and makes the trade seem worth it all.
It certainly won't be Roman Wilson that you spent a 3rd round pick on and can't even get on the field.
It's going to be Williams, Austin, Skowronek, Jefferson and Miller trying to get open for Russell Wilson to throw to.
Or maybe they can just block and Smith can take a page from the New England playbook and just run the ball.

It's not comforting that in the critical stretch, you don't really have any weapons the stretch the field with anf force the defense to respect your vertical game.
Sort of like going up against the Bismark with a rowboat.

Criticism aside, I had some hopes for Pickens being back. All I can do is hope Smith and company figure a way to get the most out of this bunch.
We need this win Baby Jesus...

 

If the steelers coaching staff would play 3 WR's the whole game. Wilson would get in rhythm and the WR group as a whole would be 10 times better. With Pickens out they should be playing Williams, Austin and Miller. The rest of the idiots should be on the bench. The last few games skowronek has been in on 30% of the snaps. In what universe is this ok. Pruitt, Heyward, Skowronek, Jefferson and Patterson should never enter the game. This is more of a coaching problem. The play claying isn't as bad as watching these idiots in the game.

 

Khan "fixed" that though by signing a guy who has 249 yards on 17 catches all season. But, it wasn't like Mike Williams was playing with 2 future HOF QB's or anything. Oh, wait..