Steelers Should Sign A Wide Receiver

When you think about it, Brown is the only great WR on our team. The rest of them of them are either young or average. Heyward-Bey is the only veteran that we have and he's average. Having Brown and a possible free agent WR would help us more offensively.

When I say that we should sign a WR, I mean that we should sign one that could make a difference. These following WR's should be looked at by the Steelers as their #2 wideout:

D Jackson, Jeffery, Garcon, Britt, Cruz, or any other WR that played well last season is a possibility for us.

I understand that we don't need an upgrade at this position and Bell got injured in the AFC Championship game, but look what happened to our offense in the playoffs:

PIT vs. KC = 18-16 PIT won

PIT vs. NE = 36-17 NE won

My future WR depth chart:

#1 - Antonio Brown
#2 - WR signing
#3-#6 (in any order) - Wheaton, Rogers, Coates, and Bryant

Release Heyward-Bey, Hamilton, and Ayers.

Even though my idea is questionable, I leave you with one question: How would our offense do if Brown gets injured early in the season and is out for the rest of the year? Could we still win with our current roster if that happens? Just look what happened when Bell got injured.

 

I totally agree. Not saying they won't have great years, but I don't trust Bryant or Coates at all.

 

Well to answer your question. Even if we sign one of the guys u listed, if brown goes down? We are screwed. Those guys u listed are at the end of careers. They can't fill in for a number 1.
If it is a concern, and I think it is. Draft a top guy. Say oj howard who is a freak

 

I figured Cruz would have his own thread when I saw that he was released today.

 

The concern is that Bryant is too untrustworthy to stay on the team and it puts the Steelers in a terrible predicament.

Coates looked like a great addition until his injury and now that has affected his catching ability. Hopefully he can recover mentally from that as I don't believe it is truly physical anymore. His lack of desire to fight for the ball concerns me even more than his injured hand at this point.

AB, albeit great is a major diva.

Eli Rodgers has a huge upside as a slot guy.

DHB will be on the bubble IMO.

Where is a Hines Ward type player when we really need a prototype?

I agree WR should be addressed early in the draft.

 

As far as a Hines type player there's one on the verge of retirement in AZ. I really would love to get one year out of Larry Fitzgerald if he wanted to try and get a ring. Although I suppose if he really wanted to do that he might just go play in NE. LOL!

 

Good article blast. I hope he comes thru and is a great addition. I just have really never seen him ever fight for the ball. I seem to remember Ben getting on his case about concentration issues. He's still a project in the making with a lot of upside though.

 

Like a free agent WR is going to come cheap , Desean Jackson will be looking for big $$$$$ Cruz is washed up. The Steelers will be fine once Bryant gets back, Coates should be better after his surgery.

 

Bryant I trust more than Coates. At least Bryant has shown us what he can do consistently. Coates is good one game then a no show the next game. We could use a good pass catching TE. I know we have Green as a pass catching TE, but he's got injury problems. James is getting better, but look at what Gronk, Kelce, and a younger Miller can do. They open up the middle of the field which opens the the whole field for receivers and RB's.

 

I couldn't disagree more, Djax is not a team player and I could see a problem if he don't get the ball. Garcon and Cruz are washed up and I worry about the health of Cruz and I want nothing to do with Britt.

You want to bring back Wheaton and let Hamilton and Ayers go, I am not a fan of that. Bryant will be back and he is a low risk for us, he is on his rookie contract and if he fails another test we let him go. In the mean time we need to grab a WR in the draft maybe 2-4 rounds Kupp, Jones, Rudolph and Reynolds are some names I am interested in who have big potential in that range. Jone had a very good Senior bowl and is on the rise if we want him we may have to pull the trigger with our 2nd pic. Not only did he put on a show at the Senior Bowl but he caught a record 399 balls for his career and a single season record 158 balls last year. Anyways this isn't about him, we have right now AB, Bryant, Coates, Rogers, Hamilton and Ayers who I like a lot. Throw in a rookie and hope Green bounces back and I like it. I agree we need to add a guy here but I think we can do it in the draft this way if one of AB/Bryant/Coates goes down we have a quality guy to step in but if they don't he could sit back and learn and at a very good price.

I am on the bubble as well as far as DHB goes cause he has been so good on special teams, but I feel we someone in this draft class could take that spot. JMO

 

Not that I don't think WR isn't a need, I think the CB and edge rusher is bigger. I would go WR later in draft

 

There are A LOT of VERY quality WR's to be found in this draft in the mid rounds that are really intriguing! Knowing how good we've done at this position in the draft, I would be willing to bet one of them will be a Steeler:

Zay Jones, although he could sneak into the 2nd round if the combine goes well (he may already be 2nd round)
Schuster (SoCal)
Dupre (LSU)
Stringefellow (OleMiss)
Ford (VaTech)
Reynolds (Texas A&M)
Godwin (Penn State)
Scott (Clemson)

I mean, honestly the list actually goes on. There is A LOT of talent in this draft at WR. I know if Corey Davis somehow fell to #30, he'd be hard to pass up on. But if there are quality CB's or edge rushers still available that Colbert & Tomlin have high on their list, we have to go that route first IMO...

Edit: in reference to the post above, with the talent available in this draft, I don't see Wheaton staying. Somebody is going to give him more money than we need to be giving him. If we let Wallace, Sanders, & Holmes go...we'll be fine without Wheaton.

 

One more thing about "signing" a WR in free agency, there's only one receiver I'd want, and it's a pipe dream (Alshon Jeffery). I couldn't imagine him opposite of AB. But...Martavis Bryant can be easily as good as Jeffery, if not better. He just needs to decide what's more important. One thing about Jeffery, there's no character issues!

Good God we missed him when he left for the NFL. He was such a dominant receiver in college. I'll never forget when that scumbag Lane Kiffin was at Tennessee and he was recruiting Jeffery coming out of high school. He told him that if he went to USC, that he'd be pumping gas the rest of his life. Then a year later he turns around and burns Tennessee like he did. I'm not sure how he continues to get opportunities at coaching. Looks like my Gamecocks gave him quite an opportunity to get a job making slightly more money than pumping gas.

I'll never understand why scouts gave him no respect leading up to the draft. We all knew he was going to be good, and that a lot of teams were going to regret not picking him up sooner. It's comical looking back through the WR's who went before him in 2012. I'm not sure half of them are even in the league anymore.

Sorry to go off on a rant...I just love my Gamecocks

 

Labriola has indicated he thinks Wheaton will be re-signed.

I'll be interested to see what he looks like coming back into camp. I predicted a big year for him last year (pre-injury), and I still think that had he been healthy we would have seen an even better offense. My sense is that after the injury he won't be developing hugely from what we last saw of him... but I've been wrong many, many times before.

 

Victor Cruz was on pace to have a great career until his knee and calf injuries basicly sidelined him for two years, he made a comeback in 2016 and had 39 receptions for 586 yards averaged 15 yards a catch and 1 TD but wasnt a burner so he was expendable, and reports like this doesnt help him in trying to get a new team:

One NFL scout told ESPN's Paul Kuharsky that free agent Victor Cruz is "probably done."
Cruz wasn't just a salary cap casualty; the Giants cut Cruz on Monday because his on-field effectiveness is gone. Cruz lost late-season snaps to practice squad-type Tavarres King and UDFA Roger Lewis, and lacks the quickness to win in the slot and the vertical speed to win outside. Cruz is only 30 years old, but a 2014 patellar tendon tear essentially ended his career three years ago. Feb 13 - 11:28 PM

 

i saw that too about coates' groin surgery. yea we all like him but....... production is our need. DHB is a nice story and all but he only really brings ST's and the ability to block well. hamilton can block well and does have some better hands. the drop in the EZ not withstanding. ayers and eli are slot receivers. bryant is needed badly and he can also block well. we could actually do without coates, DHB and hamilton for all they really bring to the table. sure they are nice to have but only if we have others already in place. we know ben is getting comfortable with size receivers that have speed for downfield shots and we have to look seriously at these kinds of guys. bryant types that can operate in the short area and downfield and can block are not easy to come by. i think we do need a high grade #3 that can step in if needed as a #2 if we have and injury or bryant has a relapse that takes him out of the league, draft or otherwise. the draft would be cheaper. bryant will have to be signed next year too depending on what he does this year.

 

We have greater needs than WR, we need to get the guys we have on the field. Bryant is in the last chance saloon I agree on that. But there's too much potential with Coates and Bryant to move on already, for years we cried for big WR's, we got them, now people want to move on and get Desean Jackson and washed-up Victor Cruz?

TE is the biggest need on offense, Green though talented is a waste of time who is basically finished because every time he takes a hit its a concussion, he'd be better of retiring while he's still got all his marbles. I wish him well.

 

just because these big targets are on the team isn't enough. they have to produce or they are worthless to us.

 

I would add that once Ben makes his mind up they need to have Rogers or Ayers or whoever is going to be the slot receiver take up residence in Ben's hip pocket so that by the time camp comes he has AB type confidence in him and he is a vital part of the offense

 

No one ever said they want Desean Jackson... it doesn't need to be a top tier guy. I'd take a slower mid-tier guy to play the #2 if he his hands are exceptional and runs good routes.

I don't think Bryant or Coates are great route runners, and both have average hands. I don't know if I even trust Wheatons hands.

 

there is no reason that TE really has to be of big use in our offense and ben could make a living off of 4 wide sets with AB, bryant, rogers, ayers and bell on the field. they just can't cover all of that.

 

The OP suggested we get a FA guy that is where the Djax talk is coming from and also suggested we cut Hamilton, Ayers and maybe Bryant........