It’s a Celebration! Steelers Finally Grasp the Obvious

PHOTO BY ALYSA RUBIN/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Never mind St. Patrick’s Day, there should have already been a parade.

That should have been organized, hastily or otherwise, in the immediate aftermath of the Steelers trading for wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. this week.

Slainte, Steeler Nation, your long national nightmare is over.

Not that Pittman is Ja’Marr Chase, or that Pittman solves the Steelers’ glaring need for wide receivers all by his lonesome, but in bringing Pittman in from Indianapolis, the Steelers have finally acknowledged the most glaring deficiency on their roster over the last two seasons.

Thankfully, they’ve transitioned from thinking about doing something about that to actually doing something by bringing in a legitimate, proven WR2.

What took them so long?

Remember the 28-14 playoff loss on Jan. 11, 2025 in Baltimore, when, in addition to George Pickens, the Steelers started Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III at wide receiver and also played Mike Williams at the position?

Remember the 30-6 loss to Houston last Jan. 12 at Acrisure Stadium, when the wide receivers complementing DK Metcalf were Ben Skowronek, Austin, Adam Thielen and Marquez Valdes-Scantling?

What did they think was going to happen?

The organization’s inability or reluctance to at least adequately address wide receivers in recent seasons, to provide a viable option to Pickens or Metcalf, via an approach other than contemplating but not actually making a difference-making trade, by throwing a dart at the draft board or, when, all else failed, by trying to salvage something mid-season off the NFL’s scrap heap, failed miserably.

Fool me twice …

It was also reminiscent of Hall-of-Fame head coach Chuck Noll’s stubborn refusal to designate an assistant coach to oversee special teams back in the 1980s. Every other team had done so by the time Noll finally acquiesced in 1987.

When asked why he had at long last come around on the concept, legend has it Noll replied, “If you hit a donkey in the head with a 2×4 enough times, eventually even he gets it.”

Or something along those lines.

PHOTO BY ALYSA RUBIN/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Thankfully, the Steelers have finally tired of the headache generated by not having enough quality wide receivers.

They still don’t — but the Pittman transaction signals a long-awaited, and much-needed, shift in the organization’s prioritizing of the position.

And with 12 selections available in the upcoming NFL Draft, there will be more than enough opportunity to build upon what they’ve started in terms of repopulating a position of screaming need.

They need not invest their No.1 pick in a wide receiver, but they’ll absolutely, positively have to commit significant draft capital (the second round wouldn’t be too soon) to continue to build upon what they’re started. And they’ll have to get it right this time.

Acquiring Pittman at the very outset of the offseason roster reshuffling betrays a commitment to that very cause. Better late than never, though.

There really should have been a parade to commemorate the occasion; maybe even a speech from Omar Khan, if not Corey O’Connor. The banks and schools should have been closed.

Alas, more completed passes will have to do. For that, unfortunately, Steeler Nation is going to have to wait until September.

Then again, after waiting this long, what’s another couple of months?