The Pittsburgh Steelers made a major move to trade for an extend DK Metcalf, but they may have just put the cart before the horse. The Steelers were searching for an upgrade at wide receiver for a while now - they were clearly trying to pry Brandon Aiyuk away from the San Francisco 49ers last offseason, but it just didn't happen.
Well, on Sunday, the Steelers found their upgrade at wide receiver, sending a 2nd-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and giving Metcalf an extension worth $30 million per season. As of now, the Steelers could field one of the more explosive wide receiver duos in the NFL with Metcalf and controversial player George Pickens.
This is a good trade until it isn't...
On paper, Pittsburgh does seem to have some insane playmakers on offense and could end up being one of the better units in the NFL in 2025, but it's clear that they may have just put the cart before the horse, because who the heck is going to be throwing the ball to them next season?
For years now, the Steelers have shown incompetence at the QB position - they seem to be stuck in 2008 with their QB mindset. It's been years since Ben Roethlisberger retired, and this team has done absolutely nothing to make fans think that the front office can actually solve the QB issue.
They swung and missed big-time on Kenny Pickett and clearly thought they had something brewing with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, but none of these three are franchise QBs or showed much in Pittsburgh. The Steelers can load up with playmakers all they want, but without a franchise QB, it'll all be for not.
Who is throwing to the weapons in Pittsburgh in 2025? Aaron Rodgers? Justin Fields? Sam Darnold? Someone else?
I understand the move to trade for Metcalf - GM Omar Khan probably felt the pressure to make some type of massive move to try and take this franchise to the next level. Pittsburgh has continually been in that good-not-great tier for years. The 9-10 win seasons with no playoff success was surely getting old.
But again, this was the wrong order for Pittsburgh to do things. I will be flat-out intrigued to see how they approach the QB situation this offseason. Khan is definitely going to try and make a splash, but unless they are able to land a rookie QB to develop, there probably isn't a QB option out there who is going to help Pittsburgh make realistic progress in the AFC, even with DK Metcalf now on the roster.