It’s been 447 days since the Pittsburgh Steelers played a game with a legit No. 2 wideout.
Four hundred and forty-seven days since they traded Diontae Johnson to Carolina.
It’s like a hostage crisis. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and the quarterback (whoever that’s going to be) should be blindfolded. (Not that Smith’s eyes are otherwise wide open.)
Do the Steelers think Calvin Austin III and/or Robert Woods can do that job, perhaps by committee?
Will they sign Gabe Davis (ex-Jacksonville, ex-Buffalo)? Davis used to be OK but had major knee surgery after making 20 catches in 10 games for the Jaguars last season. He’d be available for the veteran minimum of $1.17 million. That’s thrifty, but you get what you pay for.
Davis can be lumped in with others of middling ilk that the Steelers have used: Austin, Woods, Mike Williams, Van Jefferson, Allen Robinson, etc. If you threw a football into a crowd of those guys, whoever dropped it wouldn’t surprise you.
Smith’s offense relies on tight ends. That position combined for 96 catches last season.
Is that enough? Does it draw coverage away from the No. 1 receiver? (That’s DK Metcalf this year.)
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Besides the Davis rumor, the acquisition of tight end Jonnu Smith from Miami has reportedly been discussed. Smith is a real tight end. He made 88 catches last season.
But the Steelers won’t get Smith. It’s just happy horse manure, like previous talk about getting San Francisco wideout Brandon Aiyuk. More blah, blah, blah.
Maybe the Steelers should have kept Johnson. (Cornerback Donte Jackson, the player the Steelers got in that trade, is gone.)
Sure, Johnson played for three teams last season, getting cut so many times it’s a wonder he didn’t bleed to death. Johnson left Pittsburgh and became an even bigger head case.
But Johnson was always manageable and productive with the Steelers. (See Brown, Antonio.)
Johnson is currently with Cleveland and the Browns’ five-headed quarterback monster. Things figure to work out great.
If there’s a conclusion to be drawn from the Steelers giving short shrift to the No. 2 wideout spot, it’s that the Steelers don’t think it’s important.
The Steelers think that playing great defense comes first. But they don’t play great defense. They play above-average defense. Even though it’s the highest-paid defense.
Mike Tomlin’s football philosophy is badly outdated. But you can never count out a Tomlin team. Except these last eight years in the playoffs.
Perhaps when Aaron Rodgers arrives in Pittsburgh, Allen Lazard will follow. Lazard played with Rodgers in Green Bay and with the New York Jets. He’s Rodgers’ mascot and a fairly effective receiver, albeit more of a No. 3.
But what’s happened at the No. 2 wideout spot for the last 447 days is a prime example of the Steelers in disarray. Perhaps even more so than the quarterback situation.
Austin III is small. Just 5-foot-9. Akin to Kenny the Kangaroo. Austin III can get on the big kids’ rides but barely.
If the Steelers believe he can be the No. 2 wideout — which he pretty much was last year — then extend his contract now. Austin III’s rookie deal runs out at season’s end.
But, as with too many things, the Steelers aren’t sure.
