The Steelers Wide Receiver Room: The X-Factor To Being Contenders In 2023?

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 offseason is underway and the talks of who to draft and who to sign are already in full swing. Every team is being analyzed for the holes they have and what is needed to fill them. One thing that’s never talked about during these times is the strengths the team already have. For the Steelers, I believe that is their wide receiver room.

As of right now, the Steelers receiver room are young. The veteran presence and leader of the group is Diontae Johnson. Johnson is coming off a down year, putting up his lowest yard total since his rookie season in 2019. However, this was amidst a transition of quarterback, and a tough start offensively overall to the season for the entire offense. 

Johnson was a constant in the offense. Despite having a tough year as mentioned before. He still led the team in receiving yards, and was crucial in the offense's success. His counterpart, rookie phenom George Pickens, was also a huge part of the offense last season. After having a quiet Week 1 and Week 2, Pickens wasted no time exploding onto the scene with a highlight reel catch in Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns. 

As the season went on, and fellow rookie, Kenny Pickett got his legs under him at quarterback, Pickens continually showed his impressive ability and glue like hands time and time again. After amassing only one catch for 23 yards in the first two games, Pickens finished the season with 52 catches for 801 yards and 4 touchdowns. Two of those four coming in the last four games of the year when the Steelers finished 7-2 to end the season after the bye week. 

Pickens was a monster all year, leading all rookies in contested catches, and third in the league overall per Pro Football Focus. He is poised for a big leap in year two.

Aside from Pickens and Johnson, there is a third player who didn’t get to see the field this season due to injury; rookie Calvin Austin III. Austin was having a strong camp before suffering a foot injury that hindered him all season long. Austin ran a 4.32 at the NFL Combine, and has been quoted by Defensive Rookie of the Year Sauce Gardner as the toughest receiver he had to guard in all of college football. I know we haven’t seen Austin hit the field yet, but it’s hard not to be excited about the upside he provides.

The rest of the room also has some serious upside. Steven Sims had a strong end to the year, and Gunner Olszewski had a tough time at points this year, but made some strong plays when the team needed it. Cody White, Miles Boykin, and Anthony Miller are also intriguing options as well.

STEELERS PASS CATCHERS ALREADY LINKING UP FOR OFFSEASON WORKOUTS

The group is wasting no time in getting its chemistry on and off the field down pat with each other and their quarterbacks. The entire receiver room linked up with Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky in Florida for some training this past week. 

This is important to see, as all of these units need to take a step forward next season if the team wants to take a leap into being playoff and even Super Bowl contenders. If you look around the league, the teams that make it to the end often have an elite receiving group (i.e the Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles). The Steelers have the talent in that room to be as good as any throughout the league. Not to mention, elite weapons are a quarterbacks best friend. The better both quarterback and receivers are and make each other, the more likely you’ll see your team alive as the others go home.

I believe the Steelers receivers have the potential to be an x-factor for the team's potential success in 2023. It’s up to them to put everything together however, and seem to be putting their best foot forward to do so early on as we’ve seen this past week.

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